2 hacks...and some poetry

I had some extra time this afternoon, as I'm post-call from work (so I got to go home at 2pm!), so I got to spend some extra quality time at the barn. As the weather has cooled off a little bit here, and neither of the boys was scheduled for anything very strenuous in terms of workouts, I decided on a day of hacking-out for both of them. 

Huey got his first ride out of the arena since going back to work -- a 20 min tour of the farm, trying to avoid the big hills, and it was quite a success. Huey has always been a fabulous trail horse...totally unflappable...and one of our favorite parts of our old routine was to do our work, then pull off the tack and cool out with a bareback stroll around the farm. I think Huey has been getting bored with walking in the arena...there's only so much you can do to mix it up! I'm a firm believer of hacking out...giving the horses (and us!) a mental break from the arena and doing some fitness work at the same time. The area around the farm is great for riding out -- you can go out for hours through some beautiful countryside. Even during show season, we spend at least one day a week hacking out for at least an hour...and with all the hills around here the horses get quite a workout!

Surf got the big hack today to see how the leg would hold up -- we were out for about 1.5 hours with his buddy, sunny the 22 year old wonder pony -- and he worked out of his stiffness and the swelling was almost completely gone when we got back. Our vet wants us to keep Surf moving...and it does seem to help with the swelling. We had a pretty easy hack...did mostly walking and maybe 10min of trot mixed in. Surf will probably do flat work tomorrow and saturday...and maybe pop over a few fences on saturday if we're going to the horse trial sunday. I'm lucky enough that he knows his job over fences...so as much as I'd love to school a few fences before sunday, if we don't get a chance, it'll be ok :)

On a somewhat tangential note -- but related to Huey's uncatchableness -- here is a poem about Huey and how hard it is to catch him. Seriously, Surf and Huey's owner (and her husband) are full-time poets (and part-time horse people) who've published real books of poetry and such...including one about catching Huey :) Actually she's written a memoir of sorts (largely about Surf Guitar) that will be out in bookstores around the holidays...it's kind of cool to be able to check out a book at the library and read poems about your horses :)

Click here to read the poem "Catching Huey" and see Huey's story about going from OTTB to eventer

Click here to read a poem about Surf Guitar

And Click Here to read Surf Guitar's Story...and to see why he's the soul of our barn

I'll end this rather long and rambling entry with a quote from Huey & Surf's owner's writing that I love but can't explain why...but that I've referred to during the past several months of dealing with Huey's suspensory, Surf's soundness issues, etc as I think it expresses how fortunate I feel to have the opportunity -- however long or short it may be -- to learn from these 2 neat old guys:

"We gave him the time off he needed, and he came sound. I started working him slowly, thinking that he'd tell me when he wanted to quit and that I'd keep riding him until he told me otherwise. From Huey I'd learned that every day is a gift. From Surf I learned that every hour is a gift as well. Every minute is your birthday and your Christmas if you want it to be." ~ Julia Wendell

Good Boy Pepsi!

We had a few breakthroughs last night...FINALLY!

Pepsi had finally quit trying to eat his halter after the clinic, but in the last week or so he's started trying to again. They've been pretty half-hearted attempts, but attempts nonetheless.

He tried it the first time yesterday and got a strong 'eeeenh!' for it. He ignored that and got a slap. Usually this has been enough to make him stop, but yesterday it wasn't. So, he tried it again and got a harder slap right on the muzzle along with KNOCK IT OFF! He STILL ignored this and tried to grab the halter yet again...this time I'd had enough and SMACKED him in the muzzle with the halter. Being the drama king that he is, he SQUEALED like a banshee and cantered off away from me. Ok, fine horse. If this is how you want to play, let's go.

He trots over to the gate and starts to graze. Ummm, I think not! He knows FULL WELL what it means when I go to put the halter on, and running away from me and ignoring me is NOT in the picture! So I make him move. He starts to squeal again, and then decides to take his frustration out on one of his pasturemates- he runs RIGHT up to him and tries to kick him. But his pasturemate is a 16.2 Percheron who kicked right back. ;) Of course, neither of them came CLOSE to making contact- they were just showing off.

So I make him move again since he's still ignoring me and this time I get an ear and an eye. I stand still and he stops completely and faces me! :D Good pony! Then he walks up to me and stands still right in front of me. He gets lots of scratches and a "good boy!" So I go to put the halter on and...you guessed it- he tries to eat it. AGAIN. Another smack, another (though noticeably less shrill) squeal and he trots off. 10 feet. Then stops and looks at me. I walk towards his hindend and he turns to face me. Good boy! He takes a step towards me, and I walk up the other 3 feet to his face. (I probably should have waited for him to come all the way to me, but at this point we were losing light and I needed to get to the barn where we had lights run by electricity, not the sun!) I go to put the halter on this time and he doesn't even move a lip. Just stands there like a gentlemen. Another rub and I offer him some water and to the barn we go.

I give him a quick grooming in the barn (his fungus treatment is starting to work and his scratches/wounds are healing nicely, so he's finally stopped looking like a swamp monster!) and out to the ring we go for some groundwork.

He does BEAUTIFULLY. We drive through cones like a gate, he stops when I ask him to, moves when I ask him to, and generally listens to me. Plus, I got 3 whole steps of sidepass to the right! (We're still having trouble getting them to the left, but that's the harder side for both of us.)

I decide to end on the great sidepass and call it a night. I take him in, hose off his legs in the wash stall, and then take him in the aisle to put on his fungus medicine. (He stood like a gentleman in the wash stall btw.) He tried to say hello to a mare in her stall, and didn't listen when I told him to knock it off. So, he got worked until he went- "Oh, right! I'm supposed to stand still!" and then proceeded to GROUND TIE like a perfect gentlemen.

Oh, and on a side note- I don't know if the deer weren't out there tonight or if he simply ignored them, but I had NO snorting or 'looking' at the scary side of the ring!

Hehehe. I KNEW my Pepsi monster could be good!

The double A team!!

Some things are truly better than......uh chocolate. :)

Apple has been looking pretty good on the lunge so last night I decided to ride. He and I both get bored in the arena without "real" work to do so we went for a mini trail ride. The barn is in the middle of Mooresville so our trail ride consisted of riding by the road(not too close), contruction site(has GREAT hills!), a few small fields, neighborhood, crossing a road or 2, soccer field, gas station, and more.

I have missed riding him more than I thought. It is nice to have a horse that needs little cueing because he can read your mind.

We did a few hills at the construction site and did some shoulder/half-passing work. I let him trot about 50 yards in one of the fields but I think we need a lot more walk work before doing more. I am going to try to ride this loop 4-5 nights a week and lunge him 1-2 nights a week. He got a good Vetrolin soaking last night after the ride. He'll get tonight and tomorrow off and then another trail ride on Saturday hopefully.

The vet wants him in "real" work so that the joint injections can work but I can't work him harder than his muscles will allow. So we are goign to walk......lots of walking.

I had to borrow a friend's saddle pad last night because the damn racoons ATE my good one so it looks like I'm shopping for a pad this weekend. If anyone has opinions on Impact Gel western pads please let me know.

Dare and Mandros 7/30

I rode Mandros tonight at 8 and it was so nice to ride at night. After I warmed him up at the walk, we started trotting long and low, like always. He was super forward.

Once I collected him up, we practiced the piaffe and it still needs some work, but it wasnt too bad. He was still very forward and when I asked him to half pass at the trot, he just got fast and kinda went to the side. So I decided to canter him some and we would come back to the halfpass. The canter was really nice and we tried the counter canter into X and he did it without breaking. We did this several times. I was so proud. When we did it before, it was at the end of our lesson and it was really hot, so he wasnt as willing. I was able to really collect him up in the canter and feel him really sit on his hindquarters.

Back to the half pass... when I tried it again, he was rushing through it so I made him do it at the walk. We picked up the trot again, and I half halted right before I started the half pass, and he did alot better. We kept practicing it and it got better each time. I worked on halfpassing from the centerline to the rail within two arena letters. I was able to do it each time. The half pass still needs work, but its getting alot better!

We had a really good ride today and I was the only one out riding at the barn. Yay for having the arena to myself. He had alot more energy and was more willing to work. Today proved my theory that it was the heat making him not want to work.

Huey & Surf 7/29

I have no idea how I'm going to get both of these beasties ridden on a regular basis! I'm at work, on call tonight...so no riding for me...but a few minutes to update on yesterday

Huey was first...he was left in which was a blessing (as he is IMPOSSIBLE to catch...seriously, when he came home from the track they turned him out for a few minutes to stretch his legs, and they caught him 8 weeks later...). We're up to 18min at the walk...and will up the time to 20 min and walking on hills outside (hooray!) on Thursday. Huey continues to be quite good at the walk...but he wants so badly to go go go and continues to try to sneak in a step or two of trot in the corners or when changing from a longer to a more collected frame. He's engaging his hind end well...but bending continues to be an issue. It was an issue back in march before he went on his forced vacation...but we've now progressed to consistently straight rather than counterbent...so now we move towards a more correct bend!

Surf walked under tack for the first time in a week...he was stiff all over (poor big old arthritic guy) but felt sound on the lymphangitic leg. He was sticky in his stifles, but I'm attributing that more to the time off and the time stuck in his stall. He's really a horse that does better with consistent daily work...as bad as his joints are, moving around seems to be the only thing that keeps him from stiffening up. He felt quite good at the trot...so we go back to full work tomorrow in hopes of being able to make it to our show on sunday.

We did make our move up to Training at Surefire back in June...and it went pretty well. Dressage was, eh, not so fabulous...but he was clean xc at our first training outing, so I can't complain. We'll do Training this weekend at Olney Farm HT, and then see how things are going. At some point I'm going to have to update about the fabulous clinic we did with Becky Holder (who's lovely Courageous Comet is enroute to Hong Kong as I type this) a few weeks ago...if anyone has a chance to ride with her, jump at it (and she's got a farm in NC where she teaches out of in the winter...)

I'll leave you with a link to Surfie's photos from his last show...not bad considering we'd had several days off beforehand secondary to the lymphangitis...
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=3963994&g=0EBK008374

Kate & Pro - 7/29

Pro was fairly good last night. He did throw a fit by Erik sitting on the bench, but only threw his head up once. Then he still wanted to be defiant by prancing and swinging his HQs around...but he kept his head down!!! Obviously I corrected him by booting him forward with my inside leg (pushing my inside rein forward as well) but I was pretty pleased that he kept his head down.

We managed to get a good walk fairly quickly, and he seemed to know that he had to behave. Except for fussing at Erik a few times, he was decently good. I again focused on keeping my outside rein steady in its new role, and only moving my inside rein when needed. I think he's catching on to my inside leg as the "new" form of saying "You will go forward and drop your head - NOW!"

However, due to his fussiness, I did have to put him a little deeper than usual. This is all Gayle approved...she said once that if he's bad, make him work harder. Still fussing, get him rounder, put him deeper, no excuses. He actually seemed to settle a bit once I put him a little deep, so I relaxed it into a little bit longer frame as a reward. Even deep, he got a lot of "inside rein reward" and liked that (chewing!!). His canter was better, more up and balanced. I'm still mystified as to why it changes day to day...oh well.

I also tried to remember something that I didn't think I put in my lesson report...Gayle talked about keeping the "stuffing" in front of my leg. Like to pretend that Pro is stuffed, and I want all of his "stuffing" up and light in front of my leg. Neat imagery, and it helps me keep him really in front of my leg.

Dare and Mandros' lesson July 28th

Sorry for the late post, I'm bad about that. Anyway, I had my lesson on Mandros and it went pretty well.

We practiced piaffing to get him elevated and to get his back up. I wish I had longer legs. Its hard to grab him and lift him up with my short legs. I have to wrap the stirups twice for gosh sakes! We finally got it really well and Im going to keep practicing. His owner wants me to do several steps of piaffe, and then move into the trot.

Then we worked on shoulder-in on the circle, and haunches-in on the circle. That went really well. Then we went and worked on the counter canter. Ive been practicing it so I was pretty confident that it would go well. Well, it didnt. Ive been practicing it where Im on one lead, and then I go across the diagional, and dont change leads. Or Ill ask for the left lead when we are going right and vise versa. His owner asked me to have him canter and move into X or the quarter line, and keep the same lead. I couldnt keep him in the lead, he always broke when we started back toward the rail. So, that goes on my list of things to work on.

Ive decided that Im going to only ride at night now. At least for the next month because the heat is so bad and I dont get as good quality of rides in the heat. The arena is shaded after 6 so even if its still hot, I wont be in the sun. I just hope the arena wont be too crowded.

Hobbes and Gabby....

went for a ride last night. I didn't do too much, since I had ridden him the day before and he actually does better with an every other day schedule. So, we just did about 20 min. of real work. I did a new exercise (thanks Kate) of serpentines down the whole arena with the almost walk immediately back to trot each time we crossed the centerline. I need to work on that. Hobbes managed to turn it into a new way to get MORE on his forehand, if that's possible. Downward transitions are SO hard for me...I can't get the timing of the aids right to get a downward without wiping out into a sluggish slower gait. More leg, less hand, I know....but I can get Hobbes to stop by just using my seat and we STILL get a sluggish transition.

Oh well. Need lessons. Speaking of lessons, I'm now scheduled for a lesson with Lynn Leath Sunday morning on the RPSI gelding. I am thinking for the price of one lesson, I will likely be ready to go Grand Prix immediately afterwards...or at least Prix St. George : )

This will be me Sunday afternoon (actually it could be me,

right as the horse is about to do a giant buck and launch me!) :

Kate & Pro - 7/28

I shared Andrea's good report with Pro and he gave me the horsey equivalent of rolling his eyes like "Yeah right Mom - I was bad@ss as usual. I'm a tough guy - don't believe her!" Silly boy. It was SO humid out today but I'm feeling very accountable to this blog :) so I rode anyway. I spent most of the ride trying to replicate the feelings I had (regarding the separate roles of the outside and inside reins) on Wednesday with Gayle. It actually went fairly well. I still have to laugh as he starts every ride by desperately putting his head up and rushing, in an attempt to see if I've forgotten everything. Nope, sorry. He not only has to put his head down, but he has to get plugged into my seat so he's not rushing me out of place. Similar to Gayle's working student saying that her horse fakes an allergy cough so she can get her off balance, and then she takes off. Ha!

He was a little resistant to give (at first) at the trot, but I really put my focus on the outside rein and it seemed to help. Outside rein stays stable and steady, inside rein is forward and soft 90% of the time and "in play" only when my inside leg kicking isn't working. He did a little dance by the bunny tree but actually (surprisingly!) stayed relatively round as he danced. I don't see *why* we had to prance by it as we did our best passage impression, but oh well. He kept his head down so I wasn't going to argue.

I did some leg yielding at the walk/trot but I think I'll need to lay out a more specific plan for that tomorrow, since he's trying to rush through them. I think part of it is me trying to coordinate all of my limbs - simultaneously be opening and "allowing" with my outside rein but "managing" the scooting with my outside leg, while still not hanging on my inside rein and using my inside leg to move him over. Stupid body...it refuses to listen to me!

His canter still feels unbalanced but I have a hunch that it's due to a whole lot of rebalancing over this past year...he's abandoned his old upside-down way of cantering so now he's not quite sure how to canter. I feel moments of balance, but not an overall sense of REAL balance like he's developed in his trot. That's okay, it will come. :)

Pepsi Has A New Name!

It isn't Pepsi anymore....it isn't even Fred! His new name is (drum roll please!)....

MASTER OF MISCHIEF!!!

Why, you ask? Because I came out today and, along with his slobbers, fungus, scratches, and everything else, he NOW has a giant welt on the right side of his body! GIANT I tell you! Giant!!

Will somebody PLEASE remind me why I love this horse.

Alex, in the next clinic can we please cover "How to Get Your Horse to NOT Hurt Themselves in the Pasture When You're Not There"?

Seriously guys, this welt is the the size of my cupped hand. And of course I have NO idea how he did it. (juby rolls eyes)

Anyway, we did some round pen work today and it went pretty well. I took him off lead for the first time since the clinic (I wanted him to be attached so if he tried to blow past me he couldn't) and that went ok. He warmed up nicely, then tried to blow past me once. I jumped in front of him yelling and swinging my rope and he turned and RAN the other way! Then he started hopping and bucking and generally being a goof because the deer were out there. He even tried throwing a kick at me a time or two. Of course, I was NOT having any of that, so he got put back on the lead and we continued working. Some side-passing, lots of jogging in hand, LOTS of circles and changes of directions. We worked while a scary tractor came out too- he tried to freak out but I just ignored it and made him work. He finally decided that it was MUCH easier to stand still and listen to me in this heat than it was to run around in circles.

In the wash stall I've been slowly winning the battles too. He still has a tendency to move his hind end back and forth a lot, but he KNOWS not to get in my space. If he does, he regrets it. Today I made a big leap with him though- he's been trying to move up when I ask him to stand still and I walk away a few feet (like to grab a brush or something) and he's still attached to the lead. Obviously, every time he does it I make him back up the step or 2 or 3 that he tried to take. Well, FINALLY today after making him back up 5 different times (I'd say he's a slow learner, but it's really just that he's freaking stubborn!) he actually stood still! Rock solid, not-a-foot-moving still. I walked around and got his brushes and treated his fungus and he was still standing still! :D Yay! He got a treat after that once we got back up to the pasture and he did some more haunches and shoulder over.

Yes, he still has his moments, but he IS getting better!

Andrea and Pro (7/27)

Foam! I got foam! :) I know, Kate gets it like all the time now, but this was our first full-fledged foam so I was really happy about it. I wasn't too sure how the ride was going to go because when I got on Pro was adamant that he was not going to go onto the bit just because I kicked with my inside leg. For that matter, he wasn't too sure he was going to go onto the bit just because I cranked his head around to get him to soften his neck, either. He gave in pretty quickly to the right, but there were LOTS of circles to the left before he got semi-consistent with it.

Once we were walking softly in both directions we moved up to the trot, re-established the softness, and then moved from circles and figure-8's to serpentines. We struggled with staying soft through all the bend changes, but we came around. He also was being a little 'sticky' and not wanting to go forward. Gayle says that all horses become push horses when they're going right, but I'm not mentally (never mind physically) capable of leg to soften, leg to hold position, leg to go forward all at once, so I was sort of wishing I'd brought my whip out to the ring. I guess now I've got his mom's permission to try him with a whip more ;).

After we did all that I did some leg yielding and this is where the foam came in. He'd been mouthing the bit quite a bit during the serpentines, but as soon as I asked for leg yield he turned into a whole new horse. Totally soft, forward, very responsive, constantly mouthing the bit. We got some beautiful, effortless feeling leg yields at the walk and I even got brave and asked for a couple strides at the trot. We'll have to work on that some more, he was a little confused about going laterally at the trot. We finished up with some canter work (beautifully balanced) and did a little counter-cantering on a 20m circle in each direction to emphasize the holding himself up. He got a giant carrot and some paddock time while I did chores, so hopefully he knew he was a good boy. :)

Gabby and an update on the RPSI gelding...

Just a quick blurb about Hobbes...I rode yesterday and he was so much fun to ride. I only spent about 10 min. in the ring warming him up and checking his mental state before I took him out for a hack. We did some trotting and cantering on an incline...that is an excellent way to check how balanced you are. We are not balanced and the downhill is a struggle. It forces me to check my own position and how I'm contributing to the problem (leaning, collapsing on one side, etc). I need to do more of that. We then just went for a trail ride on a loose rein. He's such a good boy...makes me want to keep him forever : )

And for the update on the RPSI gelding I tried...I got out there later than I wanted to Friday evening due to traffic. So we rode at dusk, which is a good check for spookiness for any horse! He is friggin big horse. Hobbes is about 16.3 but he just seems small in comparison to this guy, who's a solidly built 17H. He seems to have a good mind, quiet overall yet still happy and alert. He's not the sleep in the cross-ties I'm used to with Hobbes...but at only 7 now, he'll probably be like that when he's 16, too!

We put the dressage saddle on him and his owner rode him for a bit...he's a lovely BIG mover. She said a hunter rider almost bought him, but he doesn't have his changes as he's not hunter trained....they tried to teach him last week, which he apparently didn't like. He did act out a bit when he thought she was asking for a change. Acting out for him was just a kick-out, though, nothing really bad. I hopped on and rode around for a while. I felt like one of those crappy amateur riders dressage people make fun of who is riding a horse that she is not good enough to ride. In comparison to horses I've ridden, he just has so much more suspension...which in some ways makes things easier (less sewing machine-like, as in Hobbes' case) but is also tough to really keep your seat in transitions, etc. I don't know most of his buttons, so I think I confused him a little...but all in all, he seemed content to tote me around.

I'm planning on going back to try him again...I'd like to take him on a trail ride and hop over some little fences, although if I bought him, I'd probably do mostly dressage with him. My goal was to get to 2nd level, but he could do that plus way more. Of course, I'd have to learn to ride him correctly...which means way more lessons. She offered to let me take a lesson on him w/ her trainer...which I may take her up on. I think that would help me figure him out.

So, in summary: I really like him, but I'm nervous that I'm not ready for him yet. On the other hand, I'll never be ready for him if I keep riding Hobbes, who is just not a dressage horse. I've never had a super nice horse and, well, here's a good opportunity...I talked to my mom yesterday who's opinion is, "if you have the money, buy him!" Ha. Thanks Mom for the un-Mom like advice!

And, sorry to dissapoint ya'll, but my photographer/videographer was distracted while I was riding. The owner's husband has a mule...an appy mule. I wonder if we can get a 2 for 1 deal? Ha.

Kate & Pro - 7/25 (lazy again)

I need to learn to just post on the day I ride. Ugh.

Anyway, Dare came out to watch and we took pictures of Pro in his handsome native costume halter. I'm so glad I kept his mane long!!! I think he looks just stunning.

The ride was pretty decent, nothing extra-special but at least I tried to focus on the new purpose of my outside rein. He did have one temper tantrum but was fairly good throughout. I think that after lessons, he realizes how good he's been and feels a deep-seated need to "reclaim his dignity" by acting naughty and testing me. Shame shame, pony.

We tested out a few "no pull" downward transitions and I really feel like we have a good handle on those. Overall, he's sacrificed his need to pull, at least in the downwards. He caught on pretty quickly to the idea and seemed okay to giving it up. Now it's just fine-tuning between the half-halt, release, walk and what he wants to do is half-halt, release, jig. No, Pro - just because I don't continue the seat/hand pressure all the way down into the walk doesn't mean you can pick up your trot-walk mutant combination, the jig. But we're working on it.

Still practicing the use of kicking with my inside leg to correct looky-ness instead of using my inside rein. It's a mental habit that I'll have to get myself to break. I need to switch from thinking "fix with the hand" to "fix with the leg, THEN the hand if necessary". Which of course means that it's making a mental switch in his mind, too. It's keeping the whole "You have two options, Pro. You can put your head back down, or you can continue looking. But if you continue looking, you have to get rammed repeatedly with my inside leg. Very unpleasant."

Gayle did say that we're about to the level where we need to be riding with a whip. Yeah yeah, I know. Thing is, someone in Pro's western pleasure past scared the %#@* out of him with a whip, which I hear is pretty common in the Arabian world in general. So he gets all nervous if I ride with it, and BUCKS if I even tap him. On the ground he gets pretty freaked with it, too. Gayle says we'll have to retrain him from the ground. We'll see.

Just a random thought I had the other day - if anyone is ever in the area and feels like stopping by, just let me know and you're more than welcome to come by and try the Redheaded Arabian. :) It'll be fun!!! Besides Dare of course, who needs to COUGH COUGH bring her riding clothes the next time she comes to visit. ;) It was great having her as photographer but she needs to try him out again!!!

Dare and Mandros July 26th

I had a great ride yesterday!! I rode at 6 so it was cool and the ring was shady. I had planned to warm up in the arena, and then work in the driveway, but he was doing so well that I just stayed in the ring. I rode for longer than I usually do and he did fine. We still took walk breaks, but he was able to go for longer in between them. I guess this means Ive got to work on getting out of bed early and stop staying up until 3 in the morning.

Once I warmed him up, I collected him and we did a couple steps of passage to get his back up. Ive been doing alot of transitions to help with this too. He did well in the collect trot and we canter and he did so well. He only broke when I was trying to push him into the corner, and he thought that I was asking him to do a flying change, and when I held him in the current lead, he broke. That corner is deeper than the rest, so he tries to dodge it. I made him go back and do it correctly. His canter was very nice and we even worked on a flying change. We cantered across the diagional, and did the change. He did well. He loves doing flying changes, and he kept trying to speed up once we turned down the diagonal. I made him slow down and wait until I asked for the change. Im having a lesson on Monday at 11, so hopefully it wont be too hot then.

So I fell off the face of the earth...

I haven't posted in more than a month...but I'm not dead! And I have been riding...7 out of every 8 days...really! Work has just been so incredibly busy that I don't have time to post much at all...be it here, on NCHN, or on CoTH. Between work and the barn I hardly even get to see my husband! But it will get better after July -- the new medical interns start in July, and as a brand-new-big-bad-second-year resident I've been having to do a lot of hand-holding, teaching, and supporting as the new interns make the transition from med student to "real doctor".

But, on to the horses...yes horses with an "s"...which brings me to the most exciting recent riding news -- Huey has returned to work! Huey is the now-20-year-old OTTB that I first started riding when I moved up to Maryland. He's a grand old man -- ex-** horse who knows his stuff...but if he doesn't like you, he won't do squat for you regardless of how correct your aids are :P We had a great partnership going from August 07-March 08 when he had a suspensory tear (actually 2 tears on ultrasound) and has been on stall rest or pasture rest ever since. An ultrasound in May showed good progress, and the vet thought we could start back to work in September...but our ultrasound last week showed amazing progress and he's jogging sound on pavement in hand...so we were cleared to go back to work under saddle. We put some shoes on him wednesday, and Thursday he went back to work. We're on the slow plan -- starting with 10min at the walk (with some hills thrown in), increasing 1-2min per day with the goal of being at 40-45min walking by the end of the month. Then we'll start to trot and the work will go faster...as the vet is very optamistic that Huey will see his first x-rail in September! This horse's heart is in the jumping...so it's fabulous news that he'll likely be able to not only go back to jumping, but to compete again.

So yesterday, we walked for 12 whole minutes...and it was fabulous (though the 10 min walk the day before made me so happy I thought I'd start crying in the saddle). We're taking this opportunity to really work on good basics -- proper bend, ability to stretch out or be more collected, improving the transitions, etc. It's amazing even after 2 rides how I can see what I've learned from Surf Guitar will make a huge difference with my riding of Huey. Surfie is HUGE...with a long neck and very long back...which makes him very very hard to put together and get the hind end going. Huey is much more compact (though still big at 16.3h) and much easier to put together now that I've learned how to ask for it with Surfie and keep being firm in my asking until I get it, without taking no for an answer. I'm amazed at how Huey responds much more quickly, and when I ask him to come together in the same way I ask Surfie -- bam, I have a hind end pushing forward into the bridle and a lovely round neck that is not attempting to perform it's best giraffe impression :)

Surfie has been off this week...we had a bout of Lymphangitis in a hind leg that cleared up and we went to a show last weekend (double clear!) but has now flared up again...so he's getting Gentacin, SMZs, and lots of sweating of that hind leg :P He's sound on it, but we're giving him through the weekend, as we don't show again until 8/3/08. By the way, we made the move up to Training level :) and are going to spend the summer bouncing back and forth between Novice and Training (depending on the venue) while I become comfortable with the new heights and questions asked at Training. 

I'm a lucky girl right now...even with Surfie being off...2 schoolmasters (both very different rides) who are the way schoolmasters should be -- not push button packers, but knowledgeable older gentlemen who will reward correct aids with correct work. Here's hoping for continued soundness and many more years of education from the big red horse and the even-bigger bay smurf-horse :) 

For those of you who haven't met huey, this was huey and I at our first horse trial -- Waredaca fall 07, Novice level...at the ripe old age of 19: