A Pause

After the show on Sunday, I gave Ashke Monday off to recover and rehydrate. He was so good at the show that rushing back into work on Monday wouldn't have accomplished anything. We both needed a break. Tuesday night, I groomed him, handwalked a little bit and then waited for the chiro to come back out. We wanted to make sure he was still in alignment after the show.

The good news is there was very little to adjust. He was still in at the L6 (chronic issue) and moving through his hips, so a slight adjustment to the SI area and a couple of ribs. That was it. He didn't even kick.

Wednesday, I got this from Amanda:

Sometimes I wonder if he has a death wish.

Somehow, he managed to roll himself into the fence and hang that leg up on the lowest wire. Its skin and hair, mostly, and he has remained sound on it, but seriously, I had just had the chiro out. I texted her the picture and we made arrangements for her to check him again on Thursday night. Because he was sound, we tacked up and took a lesson.

Amanda had watched the video and wasted no time putting us to work on addressing the transitions on the forehand. We did transitions from trot-walk-trot in shoulder in, then again at the canter-walk-canter until he was really sitting back on his downward transition. Then we did shoulder in for three strides, to leg yield for three strides and back to shoulder in for three strides at the trot and again at the canter. We trotted in a 20 m circle and worked on collection and expansion, then did the same thing at the canter. We did square corners in both directions at the canter, really focusing on moving the shoulders over while keeping the back feet in the box. Then we worked on shoulder in to half pass at the trot and again at the canter. Amanda said that is an exercise we should ride every time we are riding from now until we are no longer riding. She uses it as prep for I-A. We finished by sidepassing over a pole in the half-pass position, then continuing the turn into a turn on the haunches.

We hit every thing we needed to work on from our test, without actually riding any of the elements of the test. I was a wet, shaking noodle by the time we were done, but it felt good. I think we've upped the game a bit. None of that was easy. 

 Some pretty good scrapes

Thursday, Ashke's leg was swollen around the fetlock, although he walked out on it sound. I cold hosed for a bit, then we did the chiro adjustment. She used accupuncture needles this time and he was really locked up on the right side - neck and hip and SI. I was happy I had her out, mostly because we are trying to keep him from snowballing and getting really bad.Friday morning Ashke got teeth and sheath done. He had a pretty good point on the outside of his left molars which had created an ulcer in his cheek. I thought there must be something going on since he was eating cautiously and we've been struggling with bend. Doc said that at shots we will visually inspect, instead of just running his finger in, since he didn't realize how bad it was. Ashke was chewing with much more vigor afterwards. Additionally, Doc got the bean out and cleaned his penis fairly well (Ashke actually dropped. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.) so our yearly maintenance is complete.

 Drugged and getting the teeth floated

So, one of the things we noticed during this float, which I hadn't ever noticed before, is that the end of Ashke's tongue is split. There are two pretty significant gashes, one in the exact middle that is about an inch long, and another on the right that's probably half that. They are old, from before I got him (they would have bled prodigiously) and Doc thinks it might be from him biting it. However, the split runs from the tip up his tongue, not on the sides in. Next time we are playing in his mouth, I will get a picture.

 He and his mare sleeping in the sun together.

Friday night we tried to go camping with the dogs. We ended up in an area we were unfamiliar with, next to a dirt bike and ATV track, which is not conducive to dogs who want to eat motorcycles. Not to mention, noisy. We stayed Friday night and then headed home. The dogs got one brief run in the morning, but that was it for the weekend. It was just as well we went home, since I haven't been feeling very well. Sunday, we went down to the Pride parade and wandered the booths for a bit, then went home and napped in the chair. I have been struggling with muscle aches, a sore throat and all over feeling crappy. Sunday was cool with rain starting in the afternoon and lasting through the night, so it was a good day to mostly take it easy.

I'll bet he is a mudball by the time I see him again.

Sunday Show B-Rated June 10

We tried a new format for our shows this year, in order to maximize the opportunity to ride in front of a judge, as well as, provide the opportunity for our members to maximize their points earned on a national level, while trying to keep the cost of the show down. It also increases the number of times we can show in front of a new judge (we have two new-to-us judges this year), which helps both the sport and those of us chasing points for awards or medals on the national level. The only downside is that it makes for two long days.

I woke up Sunday tired. Wary, wary tired, but with no anxiety. At least not yet. It would come but not until I was already at the show and even then it was a small fluffy kitten compared to the roaring tiger of Saturday. I got up, started stew for J's bike trip on Monday, finished making potato salad for the competitors lunches and headed for the barn. We stopped at Safeway to grab something and I ended up getting a box of cornpops for breakfast. We drove to the barn with me eating dry cornpops by the handful. Real breakfast of champions. At least it didn't upset my stomach.

Ashke, amazingly enough, had stayed clean overnight despite no sheet (too hot) and so it was a matter of pulling him out of the stall and loading him in the trailer. He was willing and interested, so loading went quick and within fifteen minutes we were pulling into Circle Star. J went to print the tests for the show, while I got Ashke completely set up at the trailer. We were the second to last ride in a group of sixteen, so I had a couple of hours to wait.

Can I tell you, Ashke was a rock star. He didn't pace or paw. He whinnied every time he saw me and was interested in what was going on around him, but didn't fret or worry. I kept his hay bag full during the day, and provided a few carrot treats through out the day to keep him eating and drinking. I took a half dose of anxiety medicine and drank a gatorade, since it was already pushing 90. During the day, I drank three big gatorade, three waters, and four or five sodas and was still dehydrated. There was one point during the day when I sat down on my tack box, in the shade, and Ashke dropped his muzzle onto my shoulder, while we both dozed in the heat.

Our dressage ride was just before eleven. I did about fifteen minutes of warm up, a lot of that at the walk, ran through the key parts of our test (trot leg yields, canter circles) and then went into the arena. Jill was incredibly consistent in her scoring and we scored the exact same number of points on test movements as the day before. I felt like I had more horse, we rode some of the stuff better, but some of the other stuff not as good. We ended up with half a point difference between day 1 and day 2.

L4 Intermediate Dressage Test

One of the things I think Ashke is doing much better with is not throwing his head up and bracing against the bit. The one thing I still need to work on is maintaining the same level of connection in my tests as I do during our practice and lesson rides. Amanda did say that it was better, but I still feel like I could step up and meet him half way. I also am struggling with the concept of collected vs medium gaits in both the trot and canter and what that is supposed to feel like. Jill's comments were consistent between the two days, and I talked to Amanda about what she said. I feel like this is one of the things that will develop as we continue to work. Ashke tried really hard for me, but I could feel that he was a bit more tired. That showed in our down transitions. Another thing to work on for future shows.

The pacing of the ride and my newly acquired mental acuity while in the test, means that I no longer feel panicked about the timing of the movements. I no longer feel off balance or rushed. I have time to mentally prepare both of us for the next movement. That is a really nice feeling. Just like with the EOH, my confidence in executing the dressage test has increased, which helps Ashke feel more positive about our ride.

I waited until the walk through for the not-Intro classes was complete before saddling Ashke and wandering to the indoor. By that time the temps were in the upper 90s and I was really hot. I had used my inhaler just before the walk-through and I was feeling jittery and nauseous at the same time. All of the riders were hosing off the horses and soaking their heads with cold spray from the hose. I joined the party and sure enough, that was what I needed. I continued to drink everything I could get inside of me and the cold water combined with fluids made me feel a lot better. Ashke and I did a minimal warm up, just mostly a check in to make sure he was listening to leg and seat, then we waited until it was our turn.

A couple of the lines were a little awkward but I thought we made good choices in our ride. He was a rock star and listened very well.

We had another bit of a wait, then the rides started. There were only five of us and Jill let each of us ride whenever we were ready. Ashke and I waited in the shade until it was our turn (we went last) and then gave it our best shot. We had the fastest time, despite feeling like we were both running on empty. 

I hope you all can see this video.

At the end of the day, he done good.

One of my goals last year was to earn a score high enough to qualify for the National Championship show. This year, I accomplished that goal. Ironically, I cannot ride in the National Championship show this year, although it is good to know I qualified. 

Ashke came home sound and mostly in alignment. I'm so proud of him.

HCWE June 9 WE Show #1

This is a rewrite of this post, since I have no idea where the first write of this post went. Having already said all of the things that needed to be said, I am left without words. I'm sure the first post was better . . . .

Overall thoughts on the show:

First off, one of the things HCWE set out to do this year was bring in some new-to-us judges for our shows. The June shows were judged by Jill Barron, a wonderful woman from Calgary, Canada, who is an accomplished horsewoman, sweet, funny, open and smart. She was very consistent in her scoring, very positive in her comments, gave great feedback to the riders and just a genuinely nice person. It was great to have her in Colorado and we are planning on bringing her back at some point.

Second, Ashke was sound, willing and patient over the two day show. He stood at the trailer without making a fuss for close on 12 hours both days, in heat that reached almost 100 degrees. I kept plenty of hay, grain and fresh water in front of him and he ate, drank, peed and pooped like a trooper. He whinnied EVERY time he saw me, but also had no issues with be observed from a distance as I went about the other things I needed to do to make the show run smoothly.

Third, the overall show went well. There are a few things we could have tightened up and made more efficient, so going forward we will include those items. The show day was fairly long on both days and we will look at providing more shade for people in our July show. Everyone seemed to like Jill, appreciate her feedback, and they all paid attention during their course walks. The course on Saturday was the same course we used in our Championship show in 2016, which had ridden well then and did so again this past weekend. It is a course I was unable to ride in 2016, due to Ashke being injured, and looked forward to riding it in this show.

My experience over the weekend:

Friday night was busy. I had to shop for items for lunch at the show, unload food at home, stop at my barn to pick up the awards, take all of the show items (secretary boxes, computer, etc) to the show trailer at Circle Star and drop them off, then back to my barn to ride Ashke, before packing the trailer and bathing him. Our ride sucked rocks. He was stiff and sore and had no desire to do anything he was asked to do. After our second bolt in the indoor, we moved to the outdoor and practiced our test one time in the outdoor arena. It was a fight, ugly and disharmonious. He is always a pill the first ride back and I was running short of time. I ended up giving him a dose of Bute to help with the muscle pain from his adjustment on Tuesday, then spent an hour washing him. Gods, a grey horse is the bane of a righteous woman. It was warm enough that by the time I had scraped him off and walked him around the outside of the building, he was dry. I bundled him into a sheet despite it being 90 outside and prayed he would stay clean. (For the most part, he did.) By the time I got home, I was wiped out and stressed. Running on exhaustion and anxiety.

I fell asleep sometime between 11:30 and 11:45 and woke up at 3:49 am. It was not very restful. I didn't fall back asleep, but spent the time until the alarm went off dozing and riding through my test in my head. J made breakfast (french toast and bacon) while I got everything packed into the truck or car. I went upstairs to brush my teeth, gagged on the toothpaste (this has been an issue since I got pregnant) and threw up. The vomiting triggered a panic attack, which in turn triggered an asthma attack. I used my inhaler, which left me breathing but fairly vibrating with anxiety. I sent J to pick up the sandwiches for lunch, while I headed to get Ashke loaded.

He walked on the trailer easily, with only a short break weighing his options before walking on. The drive was only a little more than ten minutes away. We got there without issue, got Ashke set up with hay, grain and water, then went to help finalize the organization for the show. Once we were parked, I took some medicine for anxiety before going to help with the show management. Ashke spent his time watching the activities around him and whinnying at me whenever he saw me. I got most (but not all) of the early morning snafus straightened out and the show started.

My first and biggest mistake of the day was getting Ashke ready way to early. I had way too much time to warm up and spent about 30 minutes just walking around the outside dressage ring waiting for our ride slot. It was already in the upper eighties by 10:30 am. When we entered the dressage arena, Ashke was tired and subdued, although he did give me a solid ride. The stall guard over the opening into the dressage court was a spook option for every horse that rode that day. Ashke did pretty good at staying obedient and paying attention to me, although you can see him tilt an ear and sort of flinch away.

L4 Intermediate A Dressage Test

The comments from the judge were spot on. I need to figure out how to maintain my same level of contact within the show arena as I do during my practice rides. *I* need to stop being so afraid of contact with him, of requesting he stay on the bit, of asking for bend and collection. Plus, I need to really figure out how to do a canter-walk transition without falling on the forehand.

The biggest positive however, was the fact that we were both relaxed without anxiety. Better riding through medication.

We had several hours between the dressage and EOH course. Intro did their course walk, then we had time for lunch, and then 8 Introductory EOH rides. After the rides, we had to reset the course by changing a couple of obstacles and moving the numbers. Afterwards, there was a brief course walk and then the last four rides did EOH, followed by Speed.

I saddled Ashke prior to the course walk, since I was trying to leave enough time to warm up. Once again I misjudged the amount of time we had and we ended up waiting for a little longer than I wanted. I would have had a bit more horse, if I had timed it better.

L4 Intermediate EOH Course

I feel like I've taken a huge jump in being able to ride the course. Sometimes, a course will walk differently than it rides and I am getting pretty good at making the necessary adjustments while riding the course. Just like the dressage tests are slowing down for me so I can set up and plan before the next movement, the same thing is happening with the EOH courses. He is also less spooky on course, overall, although he recognized the spiky plants by the gate from the Expo show two years ago and wanted nothing to do with them. Overall, I thought it was a good ride.

There wasn't much of a wait until the speed trial. One of the riders DQ'd in the EOH trial and opted to scratch, so there were only three Speed rounds. You can hear me roaring in the video as we finished. I managed to give myself an asthma attack and couldn't find my inhaler in the trailer (we had the judge and four or five others trying to locate it) but was rescued by one of our other members. 

Speed

At the end of the day, Ashke did a great job of being a Working Equitation horse and wonderful partner to me. He seemed to really understand his job, was patient with all of the standing, and didn't even get fussy when we were the last trailer to leave. I was very impressed with his maturity and how well he held up his end of the deal. There was another rider in my division, so we did have competition. We won all three phases and the overall championship. This was the bridle holder we gave as Champion prize:

Body Work

On Sunday, I participated in a dress rehearsal for the upcoming show. We get to ride in front of a L judge and one of the WE trainers, with feedback and direction to help improve our tests. I went because Ashke needs all of the exposure he can get and it's great feedback on both the dressage test and the EOH course. Other than the bend issue, he did great during our rides. I feel very confident about the show next weekend.

It was pretty obvious that Ashke was struggling to bend. My friend, CS, said she could feel where his neck was out and he seemed a little sore. We had the chiro scheduled to come in on Tuesday evening, so I knew he would be adjusted before our show. Dr K came out to the new barn at 8:30 pm last night and Ashke was the last to be looked at.

Before I had her work on him, I showed her the video from the schooling show at PVF. She watched the incident several times and determined that his SI had shifted at that moment. The why is much harder to determine: it could have been the intermittent work (warm up and then wait for the ride) or not enough warm up or a slip of his foot in the arena. (It felt like a slip, but it is impossible to really determine from the video.) Whatever happened was then complicated by the 9 hours of trailering, the small stall, the up and down nature of our trail ride at Fort Robinson, and the move. He has been through a lot in a short time.

He was way out. This was not a surprise.

She adjusted his SI, his thoracic region, lumbar and caudal vertebrae. He was also tight in the right hip. He was not happy about the adjustment to his right hip, his SI or the ribs along his right side. He kicked out a couple of times. Dr K was much happier with how easily he went back into place.

He was also out in his neck. She adjusted him there and then went over the rest of his body. 

She then placed a bunch of needles in his lumbar and SI region, which he really protested, until I reminded her that she needed to start in the front and place them moving toward his tail.

He gets the next two days off. A bath on Friday and the show over the weekend. We have another appointment scheduled for the 12th since I have the show. Dr K wants to make sure that he stays in place. I will also call her next time he has that type of slip during a ride.

New Digs

So, when I moved into Morelli’s I really didn’t think I would ever leave. It was exactly what I wanted in a barn: small, quiet, horse care came first, open trainer policy and open discipline. But over the past year, things had changed. The focus at the barn shifted from open discipline to more focus on the Hunter/Jumper crowd, and it had expanded from a small barn (25 horses) to a larger barn (45 horses) without an expansion of the facilities. And the quality of care began to suffer. The final straw came when they got into an argument with my trainer. It was time to move on.

I took Friday off work and moved into the new barn.

Ashke on Thursday when I was there to move obstacles

He really did a number on himself

I met one of the other peeps moving to the new barn and we helped each other load all of the things. We made a run to the new barn to unload, then went back and hitched up the trailers. My peep loaded her two horses, one of which is Ashke’s sweetheart, and we said our goodbyes. I shed a few tears, not because I was leaving, but because my previous dream of staying there until Ashke died was broken. It was good while it lasted, but he needs to live where I have a say in the amount of food he is being fed. I have been struggling with his energy level for the past four months (he would be bottomed out 35 minutes into our lesson) and they haven’t been willing to feed him any more (which was not the agreement when I moved in). He hasn’t lost weight, but his body shape has changed, his poop has gotten much smaller and although I had added some steamed oats to his lunch bag the extra food wasn’t making any changes in his energy level.

The first thing I did when we arrived was the heated wash stall with warm water.

It took the better part of an hour, but he ended up clean.

The run is 48’ long and 12’ wide

The stall is 16’ x 12’ with an open front.

There is eight inches of shavings in there. Super well bedded.

He got to graze on the grass, but by today it was brown and trampled down.

He gets 3 flakes of alfalfa and 3 flakes of grass twice a day, plus 3 lbs of grain in the morning.

I’ve put him back on the Smartpak supplement (joint, salt, tri-amino) to help support his SI area.

This is the East end of the arena. If you enlarge the pic you can see the 80’ round pen in the corner.

The 80’ round pen does not even use a quarter of the indoor arena.

Middle half of the indoor.

The horse on the far side is a 16.3 Friesan. 

West end of the indoor.

It is literally 4 times the size of the indoor I have been riding in.

There is a large outdoor as well.

Stall aisle. Today, we put up chalkboards for information, and bridle hooks for the halters.

Ashke in on the end, Ardee in the run next to him, then Maggie, Kat, Earnest, Finn, Noosh and  Laz.

They all seemed happy to be in real runs.

Ashke moved from an 18’ run on a slant, to 48’ on the flat.

I’m getting pretty good about being able to park the trailer.

Amanda’s dad built the tack station that is now in the middle of the tack room.

I created blanket hangers out of pvc pipe and metal brackets, plus I added a bridle hook for my leather halter. 

I might need to do some additional organizing, but I do have my blanket box in the spare stall. 

The barn has heated water for bathing, and comes with all the perks for one flat price. The man who tends to the horses really like them and they respond to him in the same way. He refills the water buckets two or three times a day, they don’t skimp on hay and he has a ton of shavings in his stall. 

We had our first ride today and he was spooky and uncooperative to saddle, I think because Ardee was outside and he kept glimpsing her in the outdoor arena. Once I had the saddle on, he settled, probably because we joined Ardee in the outdoor arena. I think they should settle in the next week and not be so clingy to each other. It has to be hard to move from one place to another. I think as they all get comfortable with the new place, his anxiety will drop. 

In the arena, he was stiff and tight. We worked on our lateral work to loosen him up: shoulder in and haunches in at the walk and trot. Then serpentines trot to walk to trot first and then to the canter-walk-canter serpentines. We then did the 20 m circle at the medium canter then the collected canter on the 15 m circle. We finished up with some canter half-pass, which are really coming along. Tomorrow, we are going to Circle Star to do a dress rehearsal practice for the show next weekend. 

Bugs, Ticks, and Heat, Oh My!!!

This was the weekend that we had reservations at Fort Robinson. I was both excited and a bit hesitant. Excited because camping with Ashke is a lifelong dream; hesitant because Fort Robinson is the fort where Tasunke Witko was murdered by white soldiers while his sworn brother held his arms. Because Crazy Horse is my hero, I was afraid I was going to feel emotional, but that is only because I forgot whose agency the Fort is built on.

We got the camper prepped and stuff loaded on Friday morning, including the food we would need for the weekend (I forgot salt/pepper, butter, oil of any kind, and bottled water). We hooked up the trailer, loaded Ashke and hit the road at 1 pm on the nose.

Our Rig.

 Then we spent twenty minutes sitting in line waiting for the train. The ride out was easy, no traffic, no stress sort of affair. We pulled into the camp ground a little bit before six. I checked us in and got Ashke set up in his stall. Then we set up the truck camper, warmed a can of chili on the stove, and then went back to do a short evening ride to help Ashke set in. 

Inside the camper.

Dinner of Champions, right there.

Moon over Ashke

Da’fuq?

Fort Robinson, NE

Sun Setting

The stalls for the horses were really nice, but it was more than a ten minute walk from the camping spot to the stall. That made me really stressed. I woke at 1:19 am when I woke in a panic, worried that he was okay. I finally got up at 6:19, put on clothes, and went out to check. He was fine, but not really eating. I pulled all of the hay out of the bag, since he refused to eat it at Expo as well. I refilled with fresh alfalfa, put some grass on the floor of the stall, and then gave him a solid grain feed with lots of carrots. Hiking back to the camper was fun. It was already close to 70 at nine in the morning, but the forecast had the temp topping out at 85 or so. I cooked a really yummy mix of bacon, potatoes, tomatoes and egg for breakfast burritos, then J and I got ready to ride. We had decided the night before to ride out on the Red Cloud trail.

Kicking ass in the morning

Part of the Fort grounds

Looking west and south, standing at the trailhead for the Red Cloud trail

Windmill at the water trough. There were markers on the map showing the location of water spots.

Bluffs due east of Fort Robinson

Leading up the draw

Getting closer to the top

The road went into the ravine, and then suddenly went straight up. Ashke climbed it, although he had already broke a sweat when we reached the top of the first adjustment in altitude. J had to push her bike up. The climb up that canyon was very similar to the climb from the parking lot to the top of Table Mountain. Once we were on top, it was up and down, some of which J could ride, some of them were too steep and had to be walked.

Just before the steepness

This was the top part of the steep trail. Enlarge to see the footing of sharp rock.

Shooting over J’s head at the view

Part of the view

Ashke bodonkadonk

Looking down the trail. It was a comfortable ride under the trees, without being unbearable.

Pretty nifty gate latch. I would definitely use on my property.

Overlooking the plains from the top of the bluff.

This was pretty much the last moment that J or I felt any happiness on this ride.

It was beautiful country.

Trail marker on the top of the bluff.

J kickingd to go Dow ass on Coyote

So, we really should have just turned around and went back. It’s what the other riders we ran into did, but I seem to be categorically incapable of turning around if the word “loop” is in the title of the title. That and neither of us really wanted to ride back down the trail we had ridden up. The map said there was a way down on the far side of the bluff and by damn, we were going to find it.

There really wasn’t a lot of downhill, until we got to the end of the bluff. By that time, the temps were creeping over 95 and we were all seriously sweaty.

Trail sign says Lover’s Leap Trail

We opted to turn left and follow the Red Cloud Trail

The trail turned to single track

For the record, single track alongside the edge of a fairly significant drop off is a great time to work on your dressage. We worked on inside bend, so that his rib cage was bent away from the drop off and his shoulder/head was in that direction. I used my downhill leg to keep him bent away from the drop and balanced him off the outside (up hill) rein. He was very good about listening. (Better than the last time we were riding single track trails). 

We got to the end of the bluff and the trail went down a ravine that looked more like a run off slash than a trail. 

There is a point where you make a decision about turning around and going back or going forward, come hell or high water. We had no intention of turning around and going back, since the map showed us that we were so close to being off the bluff and we just wanted to be down on flat ground. The trail was so much more aggressive than the map had shown and getting off the bluff was the easiest path home. We found another trail marker and headed back to the north losing altitude as we went. We found the next cistern on the map empty of water. There was less than an inch in the bottom of the very large metal container. Ashke slurped up what he could, but there was very little for him to try to drink. There was not enough water for J to wet down her shirt, which would have helped with the heat.

At this point, Ashke, J and I were all sweating profusely. The wind had died when we moved behind the bluff and the temps were in the upper nineties. We followed the trail markers until the trail disappeared and then kept moving in the direction indicated on the map until we found the trail again. We were losing altitude steadily and it seemed that we were getting closer and closer to the road we could see. Right up until we hit the barb wire fence. I found a gate but we weren’t able to get it open and at that point we were off the bluff, but we weren’t able to go anywhere but up. And the up was bad. I think we both realized at that point, we were in over our heads and all we could do at that point was get back.

Single track heading down

See the meadow? That was the low point at the back of the bluff. We took a half hour break, ate a little snack and let Ashke graze some since there wasn’t any other water. Then we started our climb back up (Going forward was shorter on the map than going back.)

J doing the uphill in front of me. We had three climbs of this steepness. By the time we were at the bottom of the second one I was completely covered in sweat, unable to breathe, and in tears. I wanted to throw up I was so nauseous. I got back on Ashke and we headed across a meadow. I saw J dropped her bike and head for some shade, so I found a tree to tie up Ashke and went back for her.

I have to admit I never understood why Lytha made her horses stand tied in the woods as a matter of her training. However, the reason became very clear on Saturday. Ashke was not the most patient, but he managed to not hurt himself while I was helping J. We got her out of the sun, stripped off her helmet and pack, then had her lie down until she stopped feeling dizzy and nauseous. We were there about an hour before she felt good enough to try to make our way back to the top of the bluff. From looking at my Equitrack app, we were almost back to the main trail. It looked like less than a quarter mile. That seemed to give J heart. I mounted up and headed uphill. I found the top pretty quick and located a great place to tie up Ashke. Then I went back down the trail to get J’s bike and help her up the hill. At the top of the hill, I gathered up Ashke and we headed back.

Ashke tied to the first tree.

Mounting up after realizing there were ticks all over Ashke’s legs

I hate ticks.

Once we were back on the trail, heading home was steady and mostly downhill. I got off to walk down the really steep climb taking us down off the bluff. We finally got to the cistern that had water and I pulled Ashke’s bridle to let him drink. He swallowed almost sixty times before coming up for air. As much as J didn’t want to, I made her dunk her head in the cistern to help lower her temp. We made out way back to the trailer where we washed off Ashke and then spent 45 minutes picking the ticks off of his legs. Ashke didn’t move a finger while we were working on his legs. I checked all of the areas, including his sheath, and we seemed to get them all off (these are Rocky Mountain Spotted ticks). We checked three times and didn’t find any more. A huge shout out to J for using the tweezers.

See? We were down and just needed to go to the right to reach the other trails.

So close.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been on trail that long for less than 10 miles. 

After we got back to the trailer, it was covered with boxelder bugs. Thousands of little black and red bugs having sex all over our camper. There aren’t any boxelder trees in the camp ground and no one else had an issue with the infestation. It seemed to be our little issue. They were even inside the camper. They can get everywhere. It was targeted at us. And it was the last straw. Both J and I felt like Red Cloud wanted us gone. (We were enemies in our past. I should have been prepared.) We talked about it briefly, but really once J gets too hot that she begins to slide into heat exhaustion and it takes time for her to come back to normal. And there was supposed to be large thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon. Once we agreed to leave, the bugs left. 

We spent time sleeping and hydrating that afternoon, until it got cool enough to cook dinner. I drank a gallon of water, half a gallon of OJ, a couple of sodas and a couple of gatorades. We spent a low key evening and then headed home the next day. 

I’m happy to know that Ashke can travel like this without any issues. He ate, drank and traveled very well. He was excited and ready to go when I took him out. He was a little unsettled/hyper on Friday night, but settled very well the next morning. We traveled home the four and a half hours and I don’t think he even shifted from side to side. I did stand on the place where Crazy Horse was knifed, but I didn’t really feel anything. In fact, in comparison with so many other places, it really felt empty to me. 

We won’t be back. There are other places where I can take Ashke that I would like better than Fort Robinson. 

May Schooling Show

I flipped back and forth on whether or not I wanted to show in the schooling show. I waited until the last minute to see if the show would fill and when there was still room for me to ride, I entered. Since I was also helping with the show (setting up the tests, course, etc) I needed to be up and at the show venue by  7:30 at the latest to help set up the computer, show the show manager how to use the spreadsheets, and print out a couple of tests that were added at the last moment. Prior to that, I needed to get Ashke loaded and over to the show. I about had a heart attack when I woke up at 6:45. That began the internal dialog I have with myself about whether or not I should show. 

I ended up driving to the show, setting up all of the things, and then going to get Ashke. It was stormy and drizzling, which further acerbated my internal desire to just skip the whole damn thing, but, in the end, I talked myself into showing. My reasoning is that the more exposure I have to a show venue, the more opportunities I have to put myself into those situations and then not die, the less stressful I will feel at the big venues. The bottom line is that Ashke and I need to work out how to work through the stress of a show. I need to figure out a better coping mechanism for dealing with him being spooky and how to ride through it without being panicked, frustrated or angry (the anger stems from the panic, mostly, and some frustration.) The panic comes from still feeling uncertain about my ability to stick a spook - to feeling out of control. Yes, some of it is also my projected anxiety about how I am going to be perceived, which is why a schooling show is a great place to start. 

I warmed up in the outdoor, in the drizzle, at the end of the outdoor arena as far away from the potbellied pig as was humanly possible. Ashke was not a fan. The pig was digging a piggy trench in the dirt along the fence that edged one part of the arena. I worked Ashke at the other end of the arena, starting with shoulder-in, then haunches-in, then some leg yields. I wanted to loosen up his hind end and get him stepping up under himself really well. We did some trot and finished on a couple of canter circles. Just enough to get him warm and moving freely, without making him tired. By that time it was raining pretty good, so I went into the indoor and watched some of the dressage tests being ridden. We were the last ride and Ashke was momumentally bored by the time it was our turn to go. Two riders out, I got on him and worked shoulder-in to haunches-in along the wall of the arena. In a perfect world, I would have warmed him up, then gone in and ridden the test immediately. Alas, we.live in a world of sorrow, filled with difficulty and melancholy. 

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. I got a couple of minutes to warm up inside the dressage arena, during which Ashke snorted and spooked at the flowers set along the endge off the arena. I let him spend one round looking at stuff, then took up contact and rode some shoulder-in/haunches-in and serpentines to get his mind refocused on me. We just went around the dressage court until she rang the bell, and then we rode.

I think its the best test we’ve rode to date. I made a conscious effort to keep my shoulders relaxed, (hearing Amanda in my head “drop your armpits”) which seemed to help Ashke. The judge said after, that it was the best ride she’s seen us have, and that Ashke wasn’t above the bit most of the ride and when he was, it was very brief. I could hear Amanda in my head for most of the ride “don’t give with your hands” on the canter circle at the medium canter (although I did give too much in our medium trot, which is why we got the rushing comment - he can come up in the front and through at that medium trot, but I have to ride it better). Going through and adding the comments after the movements in the video allowed me to really absorb the feedback and I believe it was spot on.

This was the first ride where I was able to stay ahead of the test, with the exception of the medium trot, which kind of caught me off guard, since I was mentally berating myself for not having trotted him down center line in the warm up, ride every stride, prepare in advance and not have an asthma attack. I may finally be getting the hang of this dressage test stuff. It was also the first time in a dressage court that Ashke didn’t react to outside stimuli. There was no spooking, although he did cock an ear at a couple of the flower pots. It has helped that we work on pieces of the test and we just needed to string the pieces together.

Areas where we can improve: using our corners and working on our turn on the haunches to the “hard” side. Lateral work in general to the “hard” side will help improve both the dressage test and our EOH. I thought the leg yields were very solid, although we still need more bend in our circle. Part of the issue is feeling confident that Ashke can handle the request for more bend without throwing away his haunches. It will come with more work.

The EOH was several hours later. We did school the Intro course at about noon, and Ashke was so good the first ride through we did. No spook, great response. But then we waited for another three hours and when we went into school the L2-L4 course he was a freaking mess. I was so frustrated with him and started to get angry. But then I stopped and asked myself why I was stressing about a schooling show. We were there specifically so I could work on relieving my anxiety and helping the two of us find a path through his spookiness. I thought about what Amanda would have asked me to do, and implemented it. Instead of worrying about the obstacles or the course, I started the shoulder-in, haunches-in on the outside of the arena around and around. I told him he was a good, brave boy and to pay attention to me, rather than looking around. And I ignored the rest. We did that until we were kicked out of the arena, and then we did shoulder-in, haunches-in, leg yields and serpentines in the dirt packed roadway in front of the arena until he was completely focused on me. Then I got off and waited until our ride. Two riders before me, I got back on and walked, trotted and some serpentine canter in the roadway, then went in for our EOH ride.

He did so much better than I expected. There was a moment at 23 secs where something happened with his left hind leg. I don’t know if the stifle locked or something else happened. I thought he had slipped on the footing, but in watching the video, something else happened. I plan on showing the chiro the next time she adjusts him to see if she can tell what happened. He was a little flinchy through his body, but only tried to get away from me once, before the pen. I could feel him getting tired as we went into the slalom work and that was reflected in the scores we earned. I need to make sure to address this issue with Amanda and see if we can work on improving his stamina in his collected work. 

I waivered on the Speed round. I wasn’t sure if I should push it, but in the interest of keeping the show format (its not going to help us if we only do the two parts instead of three) and the fact that Ashke loves the speed round, we rode it.

My only regret was the stop at the end of the bell corridor. I didn’t prepare him correctly, being too focused on keeping him collected for the L turn, and not using the half halt to prep him to stop. That was why I stopped briefly and let him bring his head down and settle. That is also why he got a “good boy” and a pat on the neck as well. I felt that he was happy with being able to move ahead, and his drums were much better in the speed round than in the EOH round.  Amanda has been talking about adjustability within the gait. I felt that we actually had that in the Speed round. It wasn’t the flailing, balls to the wall round of yore. 

There was a moment when I handed Ashke off to a watcher to help the show manager with the scoring for the show. When I finished showing her how the scoring sheet worked I walked out from behind the divider. Ashke saw me, his head came up, his ears focused on me, and I said “hey buddy”. He whinnied like he hadn’t seen me for two years. I said, “I’m sorry I was gone so long. I missed you so much.” He whinnied in response. It was an awesome response from him. 

He is just such a great horse.

I think I have packed a couple of tools in my tool box. I need to remain calm and ignore his antics. I need to not worry about how he is going to react and ride as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. If I can support him with my legs, ignore his distractions, and ride as if we are practicing with Amanda, it will help him focus. I was pretty happy with our rides, how I managed to ignore my baser instincts and reach for connection rather than fighting with him. (There was a brief fight, but I changed my approach pretty quickly.)