Riding = Healing

You would think that the last thing I would want to do right now is play with the horses, but somehow it is the exact thing I need to do most. I guess it makes sense - it has always brought me peace - why would now be any different? Somehow, being out in the barn, grooming, riding, mucking, all just relaxes me and helps me feel well. I was even able to talk about Sweetie on the phone to Julie who sold her to me without breaking into tears because I was leading Sammie around on a horse. Sometimes you just have to trust that it's okay and do what feels right.

So today I went out to the barn and finished trimming Rocky's feet. I did the front two yesterday and the back two today. I groomed him and noticed how well the hair has started growing back after his bout of pigeon fever (icky stuff - won't describe it here). He had been so lame the past few months before the abscess drained that I wasn't sure how he would be. Okay, I have to talk about it a little - the abscess builds a thick wall of muscle/soft tissue around it, and his body is in the process of breaking down the excess tissue. Unlike most pigeon fever cases where the abscess is at their chest/base of their neck, Rocky's was huge under his R shoulder. It made him very, very lame and stiff. He still has a spot on the front of his R hock that is swollen (we have taken x-rays and found nothing wrong with the bones). We are hoping that the swelling will go down/resorb soon on its own, but it may also decide later to drain - I hope not, tho.

Poor Rocky's mane had been neglected for a while so I trimmed it - nearly a foot of mane fell to the ground. (Reminds me that I wanted to do that with my own hair, but am still procrastinating for some reason). I know that western riders like the long manes, but for me, manes should be neatly kept. :)

So I put the longe line on the halter and took Rocky out to the ring to longe him to see where we were. I somehow had forgotten how much groundwork I have done with him, and love how I just point a direction and he goes out on the circle for me. The first time I asked him to trot, Rocky jumped into a buck and cantered around the circle. Not what I was expecting him to do, but oh so typical for him. It's like not a day has passed since the last time we longed together, but in reality it has probably been nearly a year. So I asked him to walk and trot and he is always so quick to come back down to a halt. So smart, just like his Momma. It crossed my mind that he is 16 this year. GEEZ. And Rocky has been with me from the moment he was born. I'll gladly take another 16 years with him, God willing.

He looked pretty sound - not perfect, but not obviously lame somewhere, and I knew I wanted to ride him - so I did. Normally, at that point I hear little voices about being afraid of "What if I fall" and how I need to be responsible for the kiddos and stay safe since no one else is around. But today, it just wasn't there. I knew what I needed to do, and the fears had melted away. Not sure why, but they were gone. My internal monologue changed to, "Well, maybe I will fall, maybe I won't. But I won't know if I don't get up there and ride" and to "the best way to get back into shape for riding horses is to RIDE, duh!"



We had a wonderful ride at the walk and trot both directions. Rocky still felt a little strange at the walk (from being lame for a few months with pigeon fever) but the trot was actually pretty even. No head bobbing or unevenness that I could feel. Weird that I could feel it at the walk. And then I thought, "Well, the best way for him to build muscle back is for me to ride him!" And thought about how Sweetie and I were so successful showing the year that I rode her several times a week and showed almost every weekend. It was part of our routine, we were both in excellent shape, and if I want to do that again, I need to be riding like that again.

Rocky is very smart just like his Momma, but generally much more laid back. Well, unless he is in new surroundings, then he is mostly sensible but definitely more energetic. It's the warmblood in him, for sure. I am embarrassed how dusty his bridle was, but I won't let that happen again! Riding brings me peace and mental well being. I can't afford not to be riding. :)

Top 10 Falls Off of Sweetie

Thought I would try and lighten it up a bit, but hope I don't leave you cringing too badly. :)

10: At one of our first few shows (it was just me and my Dad) - with me trying to fit into my show team gear that didn't fit so well anymore, she stopped at a fence in the middle of a course, I came off and walked out of the arena to mount back up because I couldn't get on her from the ground...

9: I remember a fall in Culpeper at their winter series 1994-5. It was something very silly and simple - but I can't recall exactly what. It might even have just been warming up, but I remember how silly it was and feeling a little embarrassed... maybe it was a fun class like ride-a-buck where you ride bareback with a dollar bill between your knee and the horse. Good luck after show-sheening your horse! :)

8: I fell at a show in Lexington, VA. 1993? Don't remember much but falling on bluestone and getting back up and riding in the next class with gravel stains on my knee.

7: I think we fell during our warmup in Roanoke, VA in 1994.

6: Just riding around at VA Tech in the ring at the barn, and I think Sweetie stumbled/got a stone bruise. All I remember clearly is more bluestone - ouch!

5: 2008 - Was enjoying a ride at dusk trotting/cantering and Daisy came up and spooked her in the shadows. Sweetie jumped 6' to the left. I only made it about 3' but at least landed in soft sand.

4: 2006/7 - I was out of shape after having the kids and rode Sweetie in the field. The other horses took off trotting and I thought it would be fun to let her run along. She bucked then caught herself and stopped almost immediately as I toppled over her head and landed on my back. I was too top heavy and out of shape with not enough muscle to hold me on there. Very painful, slow fall that got me serious about getting back in shape. :)

3: Early 1991 - the fall at Penn State that tore ligaments in my ankle.

2: While at VA Tech, around 1993-4, I took Sweetie on a trail ride, by myself, and a dog spooked her and I came off over her head, well, maybe onto her head. She stayed with me as I screamed out in a cow field - at least 1/2 mile from the barn - for a few minutes, then up and bolted back to the barn without me. Thankfully for me, her returning without her rider still saddled up instigated a search party that found me within 30 min or so. I spent at least 2 days in the hospital with some internal bleeding.

1: WIHS Local Day at Paper Chase. I had a nearly perfect round and Sweetie stopped at the last fence. I came back in to try my next round and she stopped at the first fence, which I then gracefully fell off right in front of the judges' stand. Nothing like being judged on your unplanned dismounts. :)



So, looking back, I pretty much fell any time it was a big show. :) Which meant that I generally was experiencing some sort of soreness/pain at those shows. I will say that Sweetie just simply knew me too well. If I hesitated, even a bit, she knew it and would stop at a fence. But when I was confident, she never refused. Our connection was so close that she trusted me to guide her, and when I was unsure, she would just stop almost the instant I thought about it. At the bigger shows, I would be nervous and not ride as effectively.

The good news is, I had trouble remembering 10 falls. I'd say 1 fall every other year is plenty, though! :)

I rode Crystal!!! :)

Okay, it was only for a few minutes at the walk and halt, but she was so good! After tacking her up and putting the bridle on this time, she stood quietly with the bit in her mouth, not playing with it, completely relaxed and calm. We went into the ring and longed both directions at the walk and trot (briefly) and then I went over to the mounting block. She let me stand her right next to the block in the appropriate position to mount, and after putting some weight in the stirrup I leaned over the saddle without a problem. She took a step after a few seconds, and I got down, but got right back up and sat in the saddle. She took a step (as though she thought that is what she was supposed to do) and I hopped down. Did it a few times, and then I decided I wanted to find out whether she understood whoa from the saddle as well as she did from the ground. And she did not disappoint! We walked and halted about 10 times, and steered both directions with little trouble. She did not want to steer away from the gate - which makes me wonder if somewhere in her life she was a school horse or ridden in a ring, because she clearly knew where the gate was and kept turning back to it. She had energy, but never tried to speed up into the trot or do anything else silly. I am delighted! She feels rusty, but clearly understood cues to walk on, halt, and turn (with a little hesitation turning away from the gate, but as I asked a little more strongly, she turned well).

Here's to more wonderful rides on Crystal!

Oh,one other thing - she has a brand! It appears to be an arrow pointing SW with two sets of feathers, above a T, and then something else. The strange point is that the arrow is dark- missing hair (like hot branding would do) and the T is white like freeze branding, would do, except the 3 points of the T have a dark dot - and there are 3 more dots to the left of the arrow, but I can't make out what it says. I would have taken a photo tonight if there was any daylight left, but it was too dark by the time I was done. Yippee! :)

Trying out the Ankle...

This morning was beautiful here in Texas, and I have been anxious to ride - it has been well over a month since the last time I rode - before I hurt my ankle. As I said before, Sweetie is always the first horse I get back on after a time off from riding. She loved the grooming, and the apples! I know that my ankle is still sore sometimes, but I just couldn't stay off the horses any longer. So we went out to the ring, and I mounted up - OUCH! It was pretty significantly painful. What did I think would happen? It was my left ankle, the one that you put your foot in the stirrup first, it holds all your weight. I was even using a mounting block (although not a huge one, and I was getting on a 16hh horse). It took several minutes for the pain to subside, and I quickly decided that we were not going to do more than walk this lazy Sunday. So we went out in the field to walk the fence a bit, and check out the pond ("tank"). Sweetie has never been one to really enjoy going away from the barn - even after all of these years. I had to straighten her out to stay the direction I wanted to go several times. But she did not fight it too bad for her. As we approached the pond, I could feel her anxiety building, and the moment I turned (no longer away from the barn, but perpendicular to it), she lifted up her front feet and began to get ready to bolt to the barn. Haha - I was ready for this - I know how she is - and I half-halted with my body to bring her back. As I continued to do the rest of the way back up the hill to the barn. I did not have to use a one-rein stop as she did not make that strong an effort, but it was all I could do to keep her walking the whole way back.

The good news was that the pond was full again after all the rain we have received. :) I liked that. :) And I took Sweetie back into the ring to dismount - for two reasons. 1) to teach her that we don't dismount at the barn and 2) it has much softer footing (sand) for my ankle :). I managed to dismount very slowly and only put weight on my good ankle first, and had no trouble from there.

So, I have come to the conclusion that I need to teach my horses to be mounted from the off side for a month or so while my ankle continues to heal. I suspect that although my horses will be initially surprised, they will take to it easily. It's me I'm worried about. :) I don't know if I'm that coordinated anymore. :) My body is so programmed to mounting from the left, I worry I'll mount up and end up looking backwards. :) (Not really... well, maybe. :) ) So we'll see what happens there.

I also took my foster horse, Arwen, out to the ring for some nice, calm, ground work. She was very relaxed, and always came back to me easily. Although I have not "played" with her as much as I'd like, she's learned that I'm pretty laid back. Every time she would come in to me, I would rub her forehead, and she would close her eyes and chew a little. You could just see how relaxed she was. It feels good to know that she trusts me and that we have built a bond even if it is based just on our daily interactions - grooming, a gentle rub on the forehead every time I pass her stall, etc.

Rocky had been sore in his front feet for a few weeks (not laminitis like) - like the change in weather to all the wetness made his feet hurt as the old sole shed off. It has progressively improved, and I took him out to longe him to see how he was doing. I put him out on a circle and asked him to trot - and he told me what for as he took off bucking/kicking/galloping and then came down to the trot. He did that both directions. I don't know if he was saying, "it's about time, Mom" or "how dare you make me work after all this time off." :) Something tells me it's the latter, as he would buck into the canter as a sign of resistance when we were riding regularly. But it was good to see him feeling better - and although I am anxious to ride him - he is 17hh and I've gotta get this off-side mounting thing down before I try to get on him. :) I don't think my ankle could handle the extra 4 inches right now.

It felt so good to ride again today! Here's looking for more of that!

Injuries - of the human sort!

What a frustrating year for injuries for me! Almost a month ago now, I bent my ankle way too far to the outside when I stumbled just plain jogging to open a gate at the end of the driveway - enough pain to make me suddenly feel ill and shock-like. I'm doing pretty well now, but still sore. I used a brace for about a week, walked on it more than I should have, and then muddled through limping to help it get stronger. I have not yet attempted riding with it, but that is next on my list. I think I'll go with Sweetie first. :) She's always the safest bet, and doesn't mind being lazy (so long as we stay up in the ring!)

I have also started doing some hoof trimming on my own. My wonderful farrier of 9 years suddenly stopped communicating - I have called him a few times to reschedule, but he has not returned my calls. So, I am trimming my own horses right now. I have been watching the process for the last 20 years, and actually bought the tools about 5 years ago. I can say with certainty that I am improving each time, and I'm actually not half bad. You really have to focus on what the hoof looks like to start, where you want it to be, and then BALANCE. I have also learned how much easier it is to do my horse of 18 years who pretty much holds the hoof up for you compared to a 1/2 draft mare that doesn't like to hold her feet for you. :) And then there is the aspect of being completely relaxed and patient with the horses. I get a little nervous/concerned when the kids are with me in the barn when I need to do a trim, and the horses can tell. But when it's just me in the barn, they are much better behaved!

I trimmed two horses all the way around this Sunday morning (in lieu of using that time to ride... *pout*) and my back is pretty sore - it is much better today (2 days later) but on Sunday evening, I had a few shooting pains in my back that made me catch my breath when I bent over. Some advil, and some ice along my spine really helped make it feel better. But I am again being very careful about my body!

I guess I am being forced to realize that my body is not quite as limber/elastic as it once was, and I am putting more thought into my own safety. I ride 16/17 hh horses, but am pretty sure that the next mount I get for myself will be about 14 hh :) Much closer to the ground! A nice quarter horse will do. :) Not that I don't love my TB, I DO! But she will always have the quick reaction of a thoroughbred, and is very sensitive to any stimuli from me or around her. Even after years of showing, trailering, and pleasure riding, she still reacts quickly to things (although not as severely as she once did). But I still trust her more than any other horse in the barn - well, except for Arthur the pony, but I'm far too big for him. :) Sweetie has been with me through so much over the last 18 years - we've done so many things together - I know how she will react - she is nothing if not consistent in her behaviors.

I guess this concern comes from not riding as much as I had been. I felt this way when I started taking lessons again over a year ago. But I haven't had a lesson for about 6 months now. As cliche as it sounds, I just need to get "back on the horse."

Lesson, Colic, and Lunging

(And yes, I do believe the correct spelling is "longing" but I just can't get past the phonetics there and will stick with "lunging" until a professional corrects me :) )

Today I had a great lesson with Simon. We had a nice warm-up (and I didn't feel so out of shape!) We started over a small 18' vertical and it always makes me laugh when Simon barely exerts any energy getting over it. You hardly notice him going over the fence at all as he maintains his slow and steady cadence over the tiny fence. So Kim had us move up to a different fence that was a little higher to warm up over. He seemed awake, and so we went down a bending line in 9 strides the first time (should have been 8, of course!) He just didn't have enough energy into the first fence to get it (and I thought I counted 10 strides, but Kim said it was 9 and I'd rather believe her! :) ) The next time over no trouble at all - easy 8 strides, nice spots, and then around the corner to a wall on the diagonal. We did that a couple of times to perfection, then trotted in and cantered out a 5 line on a different diagonal. The first fence was about 2'3" and the second looked almost 2'9", so I get excited about those. (The closer I get to 3' the more excited/nervous I get). We did it easily, and around the corner to the left over another outside line that was an easy 5. We got it right the first time, and then the second we added - my fault. I didn't keep my leg on him the whole time. Although, theoretically, he probably could have taken off extra far away, but I'm so glad Simon picks the safe route more than not. We put it all together and had a beautiful ride and quit on that. It really felt so good to be riding so well! :)

Of course, then I took Simon on our normal after-lesson stroll and poop (he poops, not me, and I can almost plant a bullseye on the ground to tell you right where he'll stop and lift his tail). He wanted to turn around quicker than usual, and when I dismounted he still seemed out of breath - which seemed abnormal to me. He normally cools out easily. Watching him, his ears looked like he was uncomfortable, and then I knew for sure something was wrong when I was grooming him and he had no interest in the treats. Simon had a mild colic going on. We didn't over work him at all - everything else about the ride was normal. But he just suddenly wasn't quite right. His respiration stayed up, and he seemed not as bright, so I went back to the ring and got Kim. We put him in his stall/run to see what he would do, and he started pawing and wanted to lay down, so Simon got a shot of banamine (IV) which worked its miracle - he relaxed almost immediately after the shot and I watched him for at least 30 minutes and he just relaxed in his run, snoozing, in no discomfort anymore. They have people there all day to keep their eyes on him, so I'm sure he'll be fine.

Something I realized this morning is that I am a little frustrated that I am riding Simon more often than Rocky it seems.... ooops! I absolutely love riding Simon, but he is not my horse - and my long term goal is to get Rocky to a horse show. It is all pleasure riding Simon, but I really want to get Rocky going! If I am going to spend money to go to a horse show, I want it to be for one of my horses. Of course, I'm sure you'll see me riding Simon in another show this year, but I'm not going to go to the expensive shows to do that.

My lack of riding Rocky has been due to doing more family stuff on the weekends, and the weather has been bad, and I don't feel comfortable riding while I'm alone with the kids. So I'm going to make it my goal to trailer Rocky to Kim's for my lesson next time, and hopefully regularly.

Today, I decided that I wouldn't feel comfortable riding Rocky while alone with the kids, but I could lunge him and not risk falling, and that only takes a few minutes in comparison. So tonight, I lunged Rocky for about 10-15 minutes - we walked and trotted both directions and then cantered a few times. I'm definitely agreeing with Kim that Rocky should be quiet at the canter transitions on the lunge line before I try it in the saddle. He has quite the buck/kick on him. But it is not every time he canters. I'm beginning to wonder if it is frustration to being out of shape (regular lunging will fix that) or a little in coordination on a circle (regular lunging will fix that) or getting the wrong lead and not liking changing (regular lunging will fix that). Hmmmm... there seems to be a theme here. :) As I was watching him tonight, I know that he really needs to be going into the canter without bucking before I take him over to Kim's. You go over there and he's going to be "up" just because we're in a new place. Add that to what he's already doing, and, well, I might as well plan on landing on my butt. But the experience of going to a new place and just being there and working at the walk and trot is a great one - but I don't need someone giving me a lesson to do that. I want help with starting him over fences, and any ideas Kim might have about the canter, but I still think regular lunging is the answer - get him to where he doesn't care about going into the canter transition and then move from there. We ended tonight with two quiet canter transitions, one each direction on the correct lead, and I think that's a good place to start.

Somewhere along the line, someone taught me to make a horse work harder if they misbehaved and bucked at the canter - but I think that line of thinking has backfired a bit with Rocky (I have done that in the past - made him go faster/work harder after bucking). I want him to be calm, and he definitely gets excited about cantering. I probably have something to do with that.

After caring for several timid foster horses, I've learned to stay calm no matter what happens. I've finally reached a point where it's much more natural for me to stay calm when working with horses - and I can thank my foster horses for that. Calmness endears trust. I look back and think of so many times where I got frustrated with a horse and reacted without calmness - and am so glad I have finally learned that getting frustrated with a horse solves absolutely nothing. Even with daily chores - and turning a horse out. Say one of them (aka Charlie) decides to come back into the barn after letting everyone out before I've managed to close the barn doors. If I get frustrated - she gets scared and is likely to bowl me over getting away from me. If I stay calm and lackadaisically walk up to her and put a lead over her neck - she stays calm, and we quietly walk out of the barn, no harm done.

So, my goal going forward is to stay calm and quiet no matter what Rocky does, and quit when we're going into the canter without bucking (which he definitely can do!). Rocky is a smart boy - he'll figure it out!