Unforeseen

I got pictures from one of the organizers of the High Country Working Equitation Club. They were pictures of the Ease of Handling and Speed Round, which I didn't have before. They are enlightening.

 Can anyone tell me how to teach him to stand square?

Do you teach it from the ground? I got docked on his stance every time he stopped.

 He stood quietly and without moving. I would have had a better score if he had stood square, and if his chin was tipped down just a bit. (Scored 6)

 I think he looks fantastic here. 

(I wish I looked better.)

 Geometry. Need to work on geometry.

 I like the bend and his reaching with the inside hind leg.

I wish I thought he was doing this naturally, instead of his leg collapsing from his injury.

 He looks pretty good again, but needs more inside bend.

(Scored 6)

 We both look pretty good here.

He's tracking up nicely.

Any time we get to something that requires backing, his head goes up in the air.

That is his look of concentration.

(Scored 6 - Needed to halt on approach to gate.)

 And we need to work on him picking up his feet when he backs, instead of dragging them.

 He's so good at the gate. He knows the moves without me even touching the reins, but he struggles to do it with any relaxation. He looks so braced here, even when he knows how to do the obstacle.

 He is able to relax once we are through it.

Ashke looks very relaxed here. Not worried about the garroucha.

 Picked up the ring.

(Scored 6 - loss of straightness after picking up the ring. Note the ear.)

 Dropping off the garroucha

 The two barrel obstacle.

(Score 5 - no bend or engagement)

 Not as relaxed as he could have been.

 We transitioned to a walk too soon.

 Halt not square.

 Score of 5 for the obstacle.

 No notes on his backing, so that must have been okay.

 Halted crooked, but square.

 Immobile. (Scored 7)

Moving between obstacles is just as important as doing them.

Geometry. Bend. Too darn close to the pole. Turns are not symmetrical left to right.

(Scored 7)

 Approaching the bridge.

I thought he did the bridge very well, considering the decorations.

(Score 7 - loss of rhythm over the bridge)

 Livestock pen. First time ever doing this.

He was very hesitant going through (noted as loss of rhythm) and we made our turn on the forehand way too close to the pen. We should have moved out a couple more feet and not rushed it.

 He did okay with this obstacle considering he had never done one before. And the decorations were very terrifying. (Score 5)

 We do not jump well to begin with. We had not jumped anything like this in two years.

I had schooled him briefly over two straw bales in the warm up pen, but he was still very suspicious.

We hit the pole. (Score 5)

 We stopped before the end of the corridor (should halt with my leg even with the final pole).

He knew we were going to back up and instead of standing still he fidgeted.

(Score 5)

 His reinback was better.

 He was counter bent on the sidepass. He will score more points if he can sidepass with the bend in the direction we are going. 

 And if he could do it without sticking out his chin.

He did better moving in the other direction. 

(Score 6)

We scored a 57.778 on the Ease of Handling, which was almost exactly our score on our dressage test. Those two tests put us at the very bottom of the scoring at the end of those two phases. We kicked ass in the speed round and ended up fourth. All I need to do is bring the first two phases up ten points and I could place in the ribbons. We can improve our transitions, our halts and our rhythm to bring the scores. And continue to work with Ashke to get him to relax through the obstacles he is familiar with.

Thankful

Seemed appropriate.

I'm thankful for my boys. For my sweet, smart, loving, funny, kind, handsome kid who blows me away with the man he is becoming on a daily basis.

And for my bright, beautiful, eager, inquisitive, curious, co-being.

Ashke is thankful for extra hay, heavy blankets and shelter against the wind.

He was especially thankful for the extra feed of oats, TC Senior and carrots I dumped in his bin.

I am thankful we seem to have figured out the hives thing and changed the food we are feeding the dogs. Hives are gone and Lily has finally settled, which means I'm sleeping through the night.

Yes, Lily is special.

I'm thankful for a woman who loves to go outside as much as I do, who is willing to put up with the expense and the time away from home that keeping a horse requires, who doesn't mind washing horse blankets and equipment in the washing machine in between our regular batches, and who understands when I start to jones for the poneh.

Even in the snow

I'm thankful for a friend who loves to trail ride, who is willing to brave the weather, who never gets upset by the foibles of the trail, who loves to explore, who doesn't mind riding the same trail more than once, and who is easy to hang with. And for Eddy, a true trail poneh.

Ashke is thankful for Eddy too.

I am always and forever thankful for my mom, who listens whenever I call, who doesn't mind just hanging out with us, who loves the Broncos probably more than I do, and who facilitated my obsession with horses from the time I was old enough to ask for one. 

It's always better when we win.

Thankful for my job and my boss and having a career I enjoy. I'm thankful for those people I have met through this blog, who enrich my life on a daily basis, for the stories we share, and the heartaches. I'm thankful for those that have become friends and who share their personal stories on a daily basis. I'm thankful for my BFFs - the one on the East Coast and the one on the West Coast - for their sanity, their ear, and their willingness to share their lives long distance for me. I am thankful for the Goddaughter and the Goddaughter to be, for their mother who has known me for longer than anyone else in my life, and who makes me laugh. I am thankful for our Tia and her dedication to maintaining her relationship with my son. I am thankful for the continuing health of all of my loved ones, for our pets and Ashke.

I am thankful I live in an area where I don't need to worry about my country bombing me, where we at least have the opportunity to advocate for a better way of living, where things aren't perfect and a lot of things could get better, but we have the laws and structure to make change.

I am thankful for the world around us, for the trails and beauty that comforts my soul every time we ride out in it, regardless of season. I recognize my connection to the world, to the process and evolution of the world and my place within it. I am thankful for those that are raising their voice in support of the environment and the need to make changes, not to save the world, but to save ourselves.

So Wierd

It started on 11/13th. Skittle came down with hives. We treated with Benedryl and by Sunday the 15th, she was better. On Monday, 11/16, my mom's dog Bailey (Silkie) got sick. She threw up all over the house in the morning, but by the time they were on their way to the airport, Bailey was better. Because of the close proximity of the two events, and the fact that the dogs were eating the same food (literally from the same can), we chocked it up to a bad can of food. During that time, Lily was fine.

Cue last Thursday, 11/20. We came home on Friday to Lily covered with hives.

 Hard to see them on this side

Much easier to see on this side.

Now, to cover all of the things:

• We have not changed their food since they first came home. The most we can figure is that we got a bad case of soft dog food, which we have now thrown out.
• Skittle is fine and Bailey has gone home.
• We washed all of the bedding when Skittle first came down with the hives.
• They eat from the same can (we split a can between them in the morning and again at night).
• This is a different batch number from the prior case.
• Their dry food has not changed. Still the same bag as the past month.
• We have not changed detergent.
• No new toys.
• I spent time this morning cleaning up the space they will be in for the day - vacuumed all of the areas, cleaned out all but the oldest of their toys, made sure there was nothing for them to get into.

The last time we had an outbreak of hives like this - only one dog and nothing new in the house - it was because Red was crawling under the bed in the evening eating the foam off of the handles of my ab roller. There is nothing like that in the living room. And we've checked to make sure she isn't suddenly eating blankets or chewing wires.

She is more comfortable right now than over the weekend and is at least sleeping well.

There are two possibilities: joint compound chips from the mantle over the fireplace or the mud and hay from my boots at the new barn. The joint compound chips from the mantle over the fireplace are chipping off from her jumping at the front window. This has been going on for a while, so I seriously doubt she has suddenly developed a taste for the little pieces of white on the floor. Now, if it was her sister, I would say yes, since Skittle has chewed dry wall before. It didn't give her hives though.

The mud on my boots is a much more likely scenario. It is different mud from a new barn and both pups have been known to chew the weeds that are stuck in the mud. I have been storing my boots in the living room on the mat to keep the dirt from flying all over the house and I wonder if they have been eating it. 

Our plan is to take them off their food entirely and feed them rice and boiled chicken with egg. If that helps, then we will return the soft food and try another type. We are also going to wash everything that they come in contact with - our bedding, chair covers, dog beds, blankets and toys. Hopefully, we can get rid of this very annoying hive issue.

Any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome.

Romp

On Saturday I was supposed to haul out to an mounted archery clinic in Northern Colorado. Instead of the small, localized, limited snow we were supposed to get, it started snowing at about noon and we were in close to white out conditions about the time I was supposed to be picking up K and Eddy. The woman hosting the clinic cancelled about noon (the storm moved down from the north and it was snowing heavily there fairly early on Friday). We will try again in the spring. I was bummed but pretty happy to not be driving in the snow on Friday. Instead, T and I went to see Mockingjay 2. It was a fun evening.

On Saturday we got a late start and ended up hauling out to Waterton Canyon. We figured with the footing we could all do the ride without too much trouble. We managed to clean up Ashke's clip, load the trailer, load the horse, drive to pick up K and headed to the trailhead. The temps were right around 40 when we unloaded (Ashke shipped in his BOT Fleece cooler and his medium weight winter blanket - he was toasty).

Eddy with his feed sack and K's Abetta.

Ashke in his Alta with the TSF saddle half-pad

Speaking of which, I am going to have to work on the saddlepad thing. I'm going back to using the BOT A/P pad under the half pad. I have figured out how to hook the half-pad to the saddle to keep it from slipping and it worked perfectly on the spot on his back. However, the pad slipped back during the ride due to the saddle not being secured properly (horse-boy has lost weight). Next time I ride (on Friday) I will give the combination another shot. I think the pad will fix the issue but I need to figure out how to make the rest of the pad/half-pad combination work.

There was maybe three inches of snow left when we got to the parking lot. 

Ashke was pretty ready to do a ride.

Headed across the street to the entrance to Waterton Canyon.

We rode between muddy roads and snow covered roads, depending on the height of the canyon to our south and how much sun it blocked.

We did a lot of trotting. Not much cantering.

Ashke was bare (I used the Radial Rasp to shape his hooves before we left).

The Eds sticking his tongue out.

K rode him in a mechanical hackamore on trail for the first time.

They did well.

Brown horses are better in the mud.

You can't see the mud on them.

Standing in the South Platte, where Ashke drank and Eddy stared upstream.

It was a pretty ride and the footing was pretty good considering.

J said the frozen parts were easier. Not much coasting on her ride, though.

This was a patch of clear water amongst the ice, with the rock from the far side of the river reflected in the water. It did not come out as well as I had hoped, but still pretty clear.

J taking a picture of me.

Me taking a picture of her

Canyon walls in sunshine

Ashke and Eddy being lovey while K ties her jacket back on.

Such a pretty canyon in the snow

Ashke wants to know where his peppermints are.

Eddy was pretty sweaty. More so on the side where his mane hangs.

We made it five miles up the canyon and the temps dropped at least 15 degrees.

We stopped to eat the rest of our lunch (first part of our lunch was eaten in the truck).

Coyote in the mud

At least she didn't brick her bike.

The mud on Ashke was pretty intense, however.

This was at our half-way point. There was so much mud on him.

While we were stopped for lunch, the horses let us know they saw something across the river on the hillside. Sure enough there was a herd of deer. Both boys watched them until they were out of sight. The knowledge that there was something on the walls of the canyon made our ride back down canyon exciting to say the least. Eddy spooked first and K was able to control him easily. A year ago and she would have been in the mud. A few minutes later some rock slid off the canyon wall just behind where we were standing trying to secure K's bridle in J's bag. Ashke bolted down the canyon and Eddy followed. It took several running strides before I was able to pull Ashke up. It didn't help that I was paying more attention to what J was doing than to what my horse was doing. We decided that we needed to head downhill quickly, since there was evidence on the road of the rock that had slid off the walls. Ashke was very spooky on the ride down and when K headed past us with Eddy, he almost lost his mind.

I had to turn him back up the road and make him stand to get him to listen. I allowed him to trot in a collected frame, but not very fast. He did that very well, although at first he was really behind vertical trying to get away from me. Finally, he set off in the collected trot I wanted and we eventually caught up with both Eddy and J. He was not happy and kept trying to extend his trot, but I would adjust that and we would go back to the collected trot.

Once Ashke caught up and we started walking again, he pretty much outwalked both Eddy and J. Eddy finally found his second wind and trotted to catch up to Ashke. We had a brief canter but mostly just trotted.

Back at the trailer we let the boys eat then double blanketed both of them since Eddy was wet on his neck and chest. Ashke was dry but I wanted to make sure he didn't chill in the trailer on the way home. We dropped K and Eddy off at TMR and by the time we pulled the extra blanket off of him he was completely dry. It was a couple of hours after dark when we pulled into the barn. I wanted to wash the mud off of Ashke with the hot water the barn has, but the hoses were completely frozen. We took Ashke in and crosstied him in the aisle, then worked on getting the mud off of him. We used the shedding blade, then brushes and finally our hands to get the mud off. I was able to get the mud off the inside of his thighs, the outside of his sheath and even some off the inside of his sheath. Yeah, it was a necessary evil.

We filled his hay bag with hay and then tucked him into his stall. He was grabbing at the hay when we left.