Musical Ponies

Today I am finally starting to feel better, although I'll be the first to admit that the dusty arena and cold air did not do my lungs any good! I didn't go to my lesson last night, which turned out to be a good thing because I slept for most of the evening anyway. Since being at the barn today, my cough has been pretty constant which is unfortunate, but I'm hoping it will wear down.

Today was a pretty great day other than my own sickness. I got nothing of value accomplished with Walker, especially since I was still pretty physically exhausted BUT I did get to ride two other horses today! Yay for pony swapping!

The first horse, Starr, is D's horse and she is also Walker's girlfriend. What a beautiful animal! She's so well behaved and puts her head into a perfect frame without ever being asked. Yeah. Talk about a dream. Her gaits are VERY different from Walker's although their training is so similar. Her jog is much slower than Walker's, and it should be slow since they're Western Pleasure horses. But she has a lot of bounce in each step whereas Walker is more floaty. Same with her canter. It was a lot of fun. D was particularly taken aback by how far Walker stretches out his neck. I can't say I blame her. Its like riding a headless horse the first few times you do it! I noticed after riding these other horses that Walker actually does have a very long neck.

The second horse I rode was Tabu. He's more of an English horse so although he was pretty lazy, once he got going, he was pretty forward (at least compared to my boy!). J, who owns Tabu, is in middle school and apparently she couldn't come to her lesson tonight, so her father came to the barn to exercise Tabu for her. Once he saw D and I riding, he just asked if one of us would hop on instead so I offered. But before all this, he decided to hop on. Let me just say that this man has never ridden a horse before, and he was visibly terrified! It was hilarious. He couldn't get him to turn, back up, or anything. When I got on him, I thought he was one of those horses that wouldn't back up so when the little bugger wouldn't listen to me, I asked him to back up pretty assertively. Umm. Turns out he backs up just find because the poor horse just about tripped over himself to back up fast enough for me! Tabu is only about 5 years old, and although he's pretty complacent compared to other 5 year olds at our barn, he has picked up a couple bad habits from having an eleven year old ride him.  One of these bad habits is bucking, and he likes to throw a few kicks when J asks him to canter, mostly because she doesn't really discipline him on it.  He tried that with me once, and I'm pretty sure he regrets it. I mean really. I'm used to Walker afterall. It takes more than a little kick to the side to scare me!

All in all it was a fun afternoon, despite being there longer than my lungs cared for!  It's nice when other people trust you enough to let you ride their horses, and it was also pretty nice when Tabu misbehaved and then had that "oh oh, big mistake" moment.  It's always pretty great when you realize that other horses respect you too.  You get so used to your own horse that you forget what other horses are like.

Anyway, I have a bunch of running around to do tomorrow morning and early afternoon, but I should make it to the barn at some point.  Hopefully I'll be feeling even better and I will get to set up a few crossrails (or one crossrail... or a pole...).

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  Hopefully you all got the lovin' you deserve!

Chest Cold

It has been a while since I've posted but I've been laid up sick for the past couple of days. I managed to get out to the barn for a quick ride on Tuesday and I'm glad I did. Walker was beyond hyper, hopping all over the place. It was good practice to get him working some small circles to calm him down for when we go back to the outdoor arena and he inevitably loses it with excitement. Other than that, it was a pretty relaxed ride because I was so sick that every time I coughed, it felt like a wildfire was raging through my lungs. I'm debating going to my lesson tonight. I've missed a bunch of school and it would probably be a good idea to stay home and rest, but I love our jump lessons so much. :( I will probably just end up staying home though. I'm clearly not getting any better and when you combine the cold air and dusty arena with my cold/flu/whatever it is, it's not a good mix.

One of the horses at the barn is also sick. He's very snotty and gross, so obviously he's on quarantine right now. He lives in the outdoor arena coincidentally which makes it easier to keep him separated from the other horses. Anyway, on Tuesday, the little girl who leases him came to see him and I told her that she couldn't touch him and then touch any of the other horses. She said that my barn owner had already told her but that she also said that she could groom him. So she clips a lead line on him and walks him down the hall past EVERY OTHER HORSE in the barn and puts him on crossties. Now, I should've stuck to my guns on that one because my barn owner freaked out at her when she came down and found him in the hall, but when this was going down, I was in an argument riding Walker and she said she had our barn owners permission. Of course, our barn owner meant she could groom him in his stall. Anyway, I felt pretty bad that it happened under my watch, but I was in no state to argue and besides, she said she had permission. Who am I to argue with our barn owner. Sigh. The good thing is that the horse doesn't have a fever and is eating well so it's probably nothing serious. All the horses are vaccinated in the barn ( except the baby!) but the vet arrived just as I was leaving to check out the horse and give the baby some vaccinations. Hopefully all is well.

Even if I don't make it to my lesson tonight, in going to try to make it to the barn tomorrow. Thursday is one of my quick rides, and there's definitely a difference between a 30 minute ride where you choose the pace and an hour long intensive lesson. But I don't want to push myself. I'd rather be better by the weekend so I can give Walker lots of attention!

Blizzard

I have a hard time accepting weather warnings. They say, "blizzard". I say, "winter". That being said, I almost didn't make it out of my parking lot through the crazy 3-5 feet high snow drifts, and I was pretty sure I was never going to make it back in. Luckily, I left at the perfect time. I arrived at the barn when the plow did and I got back to my apartment shortly after the plow arrived there too.

Although Walker only had one day off, I decided to lunge him because crazy wind has a tendency to make crazy horses. He was pretty excitable on the lunge line, but not nearly as crazy as Wednesday.

There also happens to be windows at the top of our arena, and so when I arrived, half of the arena was covered in snow. Luckily, another kid arrived at the same time I did and her father was kind enough to spread the snow around the arena for us.

Today, Walker and I did a lot of canter work. I did a lot of figure eights at the canter. I would mostly halt in the middle of the figure eight and ask him to pick up the correct lead on the bend, but every so often I'd try to coax a flying lead change out of him. Not surprisingly, he was bad at picking up his stiff side from the halt, but he was much better at doing a flying lead change to his stiff lead, for whatever reason. It's good practice for me, because it really forces me to reach up underneath him. He's so smart and I'm such a creature of habit that when I ask him to canter large, I have a tendency to ask for the transition in the same spots (horrible habit!). So he picks up the canter just find because he knows what I want. I need to actually practice getting the correct position - a nice bend, good leg position, etc. - instead of relying too heavily on my horse's attention to detail. 

After that, I rode bareback for a little while and I felt like a limp noodle. It's been a while since I've ridden bareback, and Walker just felt soooo boney today. It actually hurt to canter, and it especially hurt to halt. He's always been a bit boney, but I guess I just felt particularly sensitive today. Anyway, it's a great alternative to stirrupless riding because you get the best of both worlds - no stirrups AND better balance. Well. I'm sure it does with most people, but I'm pretty sure I just looked like a hot  mess.  Note to self: pull it together when riding bareback. I'm glad I didn't videotape myself because I'm pretty sure I was flopping all over the place, legs and arms included! I guess that's what I get for taking a break from riding bareback for so long.

Anyway, Walker was in good cheer, and I also got great news yesterday. The vet says he's as fit as a fiddle. The bump on his nose will just go down with time (and already looks better), and the vet suspects that the bald spots are simply the remains of bites/scratches he acquired while playing with his friends. I'm not entirely convinced about that last one, but if the vet isn't worried, then I'm not either! According to the email I got from my barn owner though, Walker was in a "fine goofy mood" during his checkup and kept them entertained. Never a boring day!

Somebody Broke My Pony

Isn't it always the way that when one thing goes wrong, a bunch of things go wrong?

Well, on Saturday, if you recall, Walker cut his nose by head butting a nail.  On Monday when I went out to check on him, I noticed a big bump, which I decided was simply swelling and he would live.  But on Wednesday when I went out for my lesson, the bump was still there (4 days later) and so I got my barn owner to look at it.  She said that it seemed to have no fluid, no heat, and she really didn't know what was going on.  Luckily, the vet was coming to see another horse today and so she said she would coerce him into stopping by Walker's stall to check him out.

When I got home, I thought that perhaps I should get his little bald spot checked.  You see, for the past couple of weeks, Walker's skin has almost been peeling in a very little spot on his neck (on both sides in different places) and although it's still pretty small, it just keeps growing.  I would not have been so worried about that if he was outside frolicking in mud or rain or god knows what else, but he's been inside for awhile now.  So I decided to get the vet to check that out too.

"What up, human"

Today when I went out to the barn, my trainer promptly informed me that Walker was not himself this morning.  Oh great.  Apparently he was laying down, moaning and groaning, and didn't really feel like eating. In the back of my head, I was thinking, "Why the hell didn't anyone tell me this morning."  But to give my barn owner the benefit of the doubt, my trainer said that the two of them were watching him this morning and that he seemed to come around not long afterwards.  I asked if I should maybe give him the day off, but she suggested that he could probably use a little light exercise just to work out the kinks.

So I tacked him up.  When I went out to the arena, I bent over to pick up his foot to stretch out his legs.  That's when I noticed that one of his hooves had some heat in it.  I hummed and I hawed about whether I should get on, but I decided to hop on anyway.  After a few seconds, he really felt off, so I got off, threw him on the end of the lungeline, and asked him to trot around me so I could see if he was lame.  Nothing in particular stuck out so I hopped back on him, and after awhile, he seemed to be fine.  I even cantered him, but only for a couple circles in each direction.  Since he really had me nervous, he got away with a lot more than I usually let him get away with, but I didn't want to risk an argument and him really hurting himself.  When I hopped off, I checked his feet again, and no heat. :S

On top of all of that, I don't even think the vet came out to the barn today!  I was positive that my barn owner said he was coming out today, but maybe I messed up the days.  Because the bump on Walker's nose and the little bald spot aren't really pressing, it's not big deal if he's not out for a couple more days, but it sure would have been nice to have a vet around when my otherwise healthy pony was having the biggest off day he could have.

All this comes on the heels of Wednesday night's lesson where he was such a maniac just to lead into the arena that my instructor made me lunge him.  He then proceeded to buck and canter like a madman for 30 minutes straight (no stop, no trot, no walk), and I promptly held up the entire lesson.  Luckily, we're the last lesson in the evening, and the other girls were pretty nice about it.  After I was done, there was literally steam wafting off his body and he smelled like a wet dog.  Oh joy.  But we still had a jump lesson.  My instructor set up some trot poles before a crossrail to help keep the horses consistent with their trot, but I still had a horrible time keeping Walker straight going in and out.  As with everything I do, once one thing falls apart, everything falls apart and I just come undone.  At one point, I was trying so hard to keep him straight going into the jump that I stopped squeezing him with my legs, he seriously considered not jumping it, and then decided to be honest at the last minute.  I got growled for slumping my shoulders, losing leg contact, and ducking out of the jump.  Haha.  Oops.  After H went with Ash, I asked if we could try it again, and we were much better - straight on his part, better position on mine.  As with all things with Walker, he likes to fool around and push my buttons when I first ask him to do something, but then he usually comes around.

Tomorrow I can't make it to the barn because I have some appointments, but perhaps it's a good thing since Walker clearly has some horse equivalent to the 24 hour flu.  :S  I may stop out just to give him some lovin and some apples and see if he's feeling a little better.

Commercial

Just a quick post to say that I found another cute Superbowl commercial that I like.  It's not directly horse-related, but it is in a way.  Hopefully everyone's week is off to a good start.

Zombie Apocalypse

Every week, I give Walker Monday off.  This is mainly because I think that it's good for him to be guaranteed a night off every week although he undoubtedly gets other days off depending on my schedule.  I also don't have time to go to the barn on Mondays.  I have class until late, and now that it's Winter and lessons are going on in the indoor arena, the only time I could ride would be at 9 or 10 at night, which is hard to do when it's cold and dark.

Because of this, Monday has become my day.  I don't do any schoolwork.  I don't do anything remotely taxing like laundry or housework.  I simply lay around and do nothing.  All.  Night.  Long.

When I decided to take up riding hardcore again a year or so ago, it was a November.  I had been riding in weekly lessons for a few months by then, but November rolled around and I decided to do Nanowrimo.  Because I was devoting my entire month to doing something I really wanted to do (writing), I decided November would be my month to do a lot of things I really wanted to do.  This is when I leased my first horse, Hollywood, which really jumpstarted my return to riding and my ultimate purchase of Walker.

That November was a big turning point for me because it led me to Walker, and it reminded me that I had a lot of odd hobbies that I wanted to get back into or try for the first time.

This past year has been a bit of a whirlwind, but now that it's February and it's still blazing cold, I find myself looking to continue that theme.  So I joined an archery class.

Lucky for me, it runs four weeks (thus, all of February) for one hour only on Monday nights (the only night I could really go anyway).  I had a bow and arrow when I was younger (yes, I am that cool) so I'm kind of excited to do it again.  Tonight was the first class, and I have to say that I'm really enjoying it.

On a slightly related note, my friends now think that I am ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.  (Anyone out there watch The Walking Dead?  If not, you're missing out!)  They think it's wildly handy that I have a horse and can now shoot a bow.  I'm ready!  Bring it on!

Also, I absolutely love the movie Brave, and it kind of makes me laugh how similar I am to the main character Merida.  In particular, the quote by her father mocking her:

"I don't want to get married.  I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset."

Yep.  I'd be lying if my father wouldn't say the same thing about me!

Head Butt

I decided to go to the barn on Saturday even though I was feeling kind of lazy and Walker had been off for a couple of days.  Well, he definitely wasn't off yesterday, that's for sure.  I rode with two other girls, and Walker was really forward (and kind of naughty).  He was practically chasing one of the two horses every time we got around near them, and he didn't want to walk/trot.  All he wanted to do was canter.  So I made him canter.  A lot.  But of course, he didn't want to do that either.  So then he threw some good-natured bucks my way which simply resulted in more work for him by the time I was done.  I really made him listen to me, and even though I didn't work much this week on packaging him up in a frame (since I was trying to coax some jumping speed out of him instead), I made him go in a frame yesterday to show him that he couldn't just run away with me.

This might sound really weird, but it was actually a really great ride.  Walker is much more forward with other horses in the arena, and I like him that way.  It's great to have something to work on.  When he's feeling lazy, I spend so much of my energy actually trying to coax him forward that I get exhausted when we actually start working on things.  But yesterday, since he was already feeling up, I was able to work on cantering nice little circles and controlling him with the other horses around.

That being said, we had a few not-so-pretty arguments.  When he wouldn't listen to me or slow down, I took a page out of the clinician's book and started running him into the wall/making him change directions on the wall so that he had to pay attention to me.  This was all fine and dandy until one time, I ran him into the wall (so to speak - you know what I mean), and he head-butted the wall (all on his own).  Well, when I got off him after our ride, I realized that he had a little cut on his nose.  Sure enough, there was a nail on the wall where he head butted it. :S  I felt really bad about it then but it's mostly his own fault.  Obviously I didn't run him into the wall in that way.  I wanted him to stop at the wall, change directions, pay attention, etc.  But like an idiot, he actually rammed his head into the wall full force.

Anyway, the cut is just little (more like a paper cut really), but I put some salve on it to make him feel better.  I never made it to the barn today because we got a little snowstorm, but I'm going to go out tomorrow and check on him even though I don't normally go to the barn on Mondays.  My parents came to visit today so they brought the spoiled brat an entire bag of apples.  I guess I'll have to give him a few tomorrow!

I'm sure many of you have seen this ad, but I just love it.  The little foal is kind of bad/playful the way Walker is.  I'd like to think that Walker would come running for me too, but I'm pretty sure he'd just stay where the food was!