Finally Riding Again!

I am so excited to be riding Jay again! I guess I wanted to make sure it was really real before I posted this, LOL. I got back in the saddle for a lesson on Sept. 5th. It was an easy one for Jay, his job was just to walk around with someone on him...while I was standing, posting at the walk without stirrups, etc. It was good! We also trotted for about 5 minutes, and it was a lovely trot, probably one of the best Jay has ever given me. I think he is really liking his chiro adjustment, new saddle, thinline pad, and my weight loss!

My rides since then have been really good, too. Jay has been happy and willing. I have been trying to ride him long and low. I still need to get some ground poles to work him over as the vet suggested, but in the meantime I have just been trying to work him correctly without them. We have still been doing mostly walk with some trot.

The farrier was out again September 12th, this is his third time shoeing Jay, and he is also very pleased with Jay's overall progress, and with how Jay's feet are doing.

This is something I have never done before, but I have some video of us from last Saturday to share. Feed back and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H21NBTd0gTk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRD_-i9RgNk&feature=channel

Decisions to be made

Hey guys,

So Phoebe is still doing well. She's actually been almost completely sound for most of our rides, though she got her feet done yesterday and was definitely back to being ouchy. Gayle says another trim, maybe two, and she should be in the clear with her feet. She probably still needs another chiropractic adjustment or two, but I think she's going to be completely fine.

Riding-wise I think we're doing pretty well. She's the first horse I've really felt an instant connection with since I sold my mare in college. I enjoy her and her personality. She's very much a "push" horse and lately I've been spending the first part of the ride trying to sharpen up her responses at the walk and trot. If I don't get her sharp at the walk and trot, I have a lot of trouble getting a good canter transition. At least all the walk/trot transitions should also be helping her build muscle! I haven't really had a "bad" ride where I feel like we're not on the same page. Some days I never get her as sharp as I want, but it's not hard to find a good note to end on. I've ridden her bareback a couple times and she's the same horse as under saddle, maybe even a bit more forward since we don't have a not-great fitting saddle to worry about.

Which brings me to the decision-to-be-made part of the post. Her owner is buying a house with some land and planning to move her other horse to her house. However, there aren't any riding facilities so she's going to leave Phoebe at the barn, at least for now. To offset the cost somewhat, she's offered to let me formally half-lease Phoebe, probably for the cost of half-board. That'd come out to about $100 more than I was paying when I was riding Pro since I was paying for 2 lessons a month on him. It's still a pretty awesome deal to ride a pretty well trained, talented mare, but I got spoiled by not paying to ride for most of the last 18 months. On the bright side, I wouldn't have to do any chores, so that cuts 30-45 min off each barn trip.

So, I've got to think about it for a bit. Luckily I don't think anything is going to happen in the next month so I've got some time. This would be my first official, paid leasing arrangement. I almost set up one with a horse before Pro, but the owner and I had a disagreement about training strategies during the first 30 days and I bailed on it. Do any of you have leasing experiences or opinions to weigh-in with?

Jay Update

It has been a rough summer for Jay and me, but hopefully things are on the upswing now! The farrier was out to shoe Jay August 17th. Jay had still been lame on the right front, but had been working out of it until just a few days before the farrier came...at that point he wasn't working out of it any more. I had talked to the vet and he said that Jay was right where he expected, and that it could take 3 more months before he is really over all of this.

Anyway, the farrier came, and Jay started getting fussy when he was working on the right front. About that time the farrier said the he was opening up an abscess! That explains why Jay was no longer working out of the lameness! I was just surprised because he was never "abscess lame."

Jay is currently looking the best that he has in a LONG time. He still takes a bad step now and then, but is really looking SO much better. His back is sore, though. So Jay went to the vet yesterday for a chiropractic adjustment. He of course was out of adjustment, and was sore in several places. He even raised his LH as a warning when she was working on his left hindquarters!

The vet agreed that his back soreness is probably from standing around out of balance and guarding himself in pain from his foot ordeal this summer. He of course has no topline whatsoever at this point. He has really been out of work since April, as I was only able to ride 4 times after the saddle fitting in April in the saddle I was trying at the time.

He also has quite a bit more atrophy in his left hindquarters than his right. His LH is the weaker leg, and has that "twist" to it when he moves. The vet suggested that I use a series of 10 to 12 trot poles to try to get him to use both hindquarters evenly. Part of our task now is to see how he responds to work in order to figure out if the atrophy is from 1) being out of adjustment, 2) EPM related, or 3) lameness in the left hind. She has recommended that I only do walk/trot until he is re-checked in 4 to 6 weeks.

I have a lesson scheduled for Saturday morning. We will be taking it easy, and probably do groundwork...and hopefully some riding!