Falling

 Random canter picture

We almost had a rotational fall during my lesson last night. We were doing a shoulder in on a circle at the canter to help him straighten out his body (he's throwing his haunches in) and improve his bend. Plus, it helps strengthen the hind end, which is our PT right now. We had spiraled out to the rail and I asked for a downward transition. IDK if Ashke stubbed his toe (what the tracks looked like and what it felt like) but Amanda said both his front leg and back leg looked like they both slipped in the footing.

It's the closest we've come to falling since I started riding again.

I caught him on the bit and helped hold him up. Amanda said I did a good job and rode it correctly; kept my body back and tried to help him rebalance. He did every thing he could do to keep us upright and just managed not to go to his knees. Amanda was a little unsettled afterwards. I could hear it in her voice. I was a bit shook, but felt like Ashke had done his best to take care of us. I have no doubt that he would hurt himself trying to save us.

We did walk-trot-canter afterwards to make sure he was still sound (hadn't wrenched anything) and because if we hadn't I would have had a huge mental block about cantering again. Then we worked on half-pass at the walk and trot before calling it a night.

We worked on stretching his right hind hamstring (to help the hip) and he was much more stretchy last night. He even allowed me to move the leg under his belly without trying to snatch it back. Hopefully, it will continue to relax and become more flexible.

Professional

There was a professional videographer at Expo. I thought it would be great to show our dressage test from the side view, vs from behind. It gave me some great perspective on several movements. One of the things you can see is that Ashke is finally picking up his feet when he does the reinback. Also, our one spook was pretty obvious in this video. Finally, I can see what the judge saw on our last halt and what she meant when she said he pushed through my hand.

Flailing

Mostly less appealing photos.Although, when you ride a unicorn, the unicorn just shines.

Snarky ears. This is how he responds to pretty much every canter depart. Ever.

Just awkward.

If you pull hard enough, your horse will stand on its head.

I think I picked this for the hair.

Fall on the forehand much?

Oh yes, snark.

I don't wanna.

More awkward.

Had to include this because cute.

Playing with the bit while standing still.

Tension much.

Had to end on a good note. This is a pretty good picture, except for my left hand.

Beefcake

Last weekend, Amanda's mom was at the barn taking pictures. This is one of my most favorite things, because she has a great eye, an awesome camera and loves to share her photos. Thanks Mom-J for sharing your work. The pictures are amazing.

She told me there were a bunch of good photos but some not so good photos and not to get discouraged. I told her I knew we were a work in progress and that it wouldn't be a surprise to see some less than flattering photos. I don't remember exactly what she said next, but I responded with "I don't have to put THOSE pictures on the blog." Which made us both laugh.

So, here are the really good pics from the 234 I received from her. My favs. Perhaps next, I will do a fail to horse/fail to dressage post with the really god awful pics from that day. Maybe. :)

I love the line of muscle along his shoulder. Part of the "sling" of muscles that connect the shoulder blades together to form the withers.

Balancing on one leg

Sweet talking Liverpool with Amanda up

Working the Serpentines

Giving a bit of snark about the canter depart

Attitude. I love the ears.

I changed to a bridle with a bit of bling.

Plus bit.

Riding figure 8's with one hand

This may be my all time favorite picture of the two of us

Working the trot

Reaching up under himself

Plenty of relaxation

Look at the muscle at the top of his withers and the base of his neck.

So dressagey.

He is a beautiful horse

More trot

What a horse

He is not a fan of other geldings right now.

He really wants all of the mares for himself.

Snarky but listening

My unicorn

It was a great day with some awesome photos. Thanks Mom-J for the pictures!!

Changing It Up

I have been using the same Chiro/accu doc for six years. I hadn’t ever really thought about switching to someone else until a month ago, when I went for a second opinion on his left stifle. Since then, I wondered what else might be different. I watched the Chiro vet that was working on the horses at Morelli, while we were getting Ashke’s hocks injected. She was doing things that the doc I have been using didn’t, which I had seen other Chiro people doing as well. Plus, there is a bit of a bonus in not having to haul out to get him worked on. This particular woman, Dr K, comes to Morelli and does a bunch of horses all at the same time, which lowers costs. I had talked to Dr K while waiting for Ashke to waken from his sleepies, and really liked her. The people at the barn had good things to say about their horses, and she comes out monthly. Seemed like a win all around.

Dr K examined Ashke on Friday afternoon. She asked me what I thought was going on with him and I told her that both Amanda and myself thought he had a rib or two out, plus his SI area was always an issue. She had me walk and trot him out, then started her exam. 

He had six ribs out. Dr K was amazed at how clearly Ashke communicated with her (expressive horse) and how he would turn around and look at her when she wasn’t getting something correct. After working on his ribs, she worked on the lumbar region and his SI. She had the styrofoam bales to stand on, elevating her above his back, where she used her hands and body weight to adjust his vertebrae. For the first time, the two bumps he had at the top of his butt disappeared after her adjustment. I could hear and see the joint being moved and the twin bumps he’s had are gone. Ashke did get a little agitated with her working on the right side, and kicked out one time. I kept asking him to keep all four of his feet on the ground. We could tell that it hurt, but he seemed happier afterwards.

Then she worked on his right hip. That was new. The only time his right hip has been looked at was when he rotated the femur back in 2015. She said the femur head is stuck in the cuff, not rotating or moving at all. She adjusted it in three different directions, trying to get it to move, at least a little bit. After working on it for a few minutes, Dr K was able to get the joint to move a little bit. She said that with that joint locked up, he wasn’t able to swing through his hip properly, which is causing his hamstring and SI to stay locked up. She showed me a stretch to use on him, to help stretch out the hamstring. 

Next, Dr K checked his TMJ, adjusting it on one side, then laughing at Ashke asking her to do the second side. She adjusted the other side, then reached up between his jaws to adjust the hyoid. I didn’t even know that was a thing. Then she moved to adjust his poll, laying his head over her shoulder and stretching out his neck. Something must have happened because when she pulled back, he hooked his chin over her shoulder and pulled her back in. She laughed and placed his head over her other shoulder to adjust the other side. She then worked on his withers on both sides, adjusted the fetlock on the right front. When she got to the left front it took some work and pulling his leg out in front of him to adjust his knee, then his elbow and his shoulder. 

All of the things.

Then we did needles.

Lots of needles. 

We have another appointment in ten days. We want to make sure the adjustment to the SI sticks, and the right femur needs more attention.

We shall see what Ashke thinks of the adjustments tomorrow. I didn’t ride today, since there was so much to address yesterday. Tomorrow, I am hoping to do a trail ride. It might be good to keep him going forward and not in circles for the first ride.

Lesson in Flying

Amanda was serious when we discussed all of the hard stuff we were going to be working on. I can't tell you what a difference the hock injections have made in Ashke's ability to use his hind end effectively. We have a chiro/accu appointment on Friday and I am hoping that visit will address the little bit of stuff I still feel going on in his hind end.

Last night was proof positive that if you work on the issues you find, things get easier. I left off trying the flying changes back in November because 1) Ashke didn't want to find his canter afterwards, which made me really sad after all of the work we've done in making it a solid gait, and 2) I needed to work on increasing our canter work and strengthening his hind end, especially moving on the right lead. During our lesson, Ashke was actually offering the flying change so I had Amanda get on to school the change.

There was one more attempt where he got a change in both directions, mostly clean, that I didn't catch on video. The one after that, which I accidentally erased, was a hot mess and it was obvious that he was tired, so we stopped trying.

The difference in this ride is that Ashke came right back to my hand. We reestablished our walk, trot, canter and halt and then ended the lesson. Ashke will have a couple of days to think about what he was shown before we do an arena ride again. I am probably going to do a lesson on Amanda's horse, who has confirmed changes, in order to figure out the timing for asking for the change. That way, when I am working with Ashke, I'm not making him confused during our rides.

Lessons

After Expo, Ashke got the next two days off, which was great because I was really exhausted. That weekend, which would be exhausting anyway, was combined with our annual Spring Forward moment. I was still fighting a feeling of overall weariness when I showed up for my ride on Wednesday. Amanda told me how incredibly proud she was of Ashke and I and then said "now you get to work on the hard stuff."

I might have gulped a bit when I asked what the hard stuff was going to be. She said, "half-pass, pirouettes, flying changes."

Yeah, all of that.

I have to say that one of the things that has become very obvious to me in the past week is that the injection in Ashke's right hock has made a world of difference in his movement, his focus and his willingness to learn all of the new things we are learning. I was struggling to ride, so Amanda got up for about fifteen minutes to work on the canter to the right. He got better with her up, and then we switched out again so I could try. I felt like a piece of hot wire pulled through a screen trying to finish up that lesson.

The next time I rode, we did this:

That was our second attempt at the canter half pass

He was having a hard time maintaining the bend. We tried it in the other direction.

Ashke wasn't sure at all what I was trying to get him to do and we didn't get the bend.

But he's trying.

Finally, a couple of solid steps to the left.

On Sunday, we rode outside and I am waiting on the photos Amanda's mom took of us. Ashke felt amazing that day. We were riding the canter serpentine with transitions through the walk, one handed, and one of the women watching said we were really close to being able to do a canter pirouette. We worked on a lot of different things, including the canter half-pass, which Amanda said he was finally putting more than two or three steps together in a row.

We are going to work on the flying change on Wednesday, with Amanda showing him what we want, and then I will try to duplicate the movement. His right hind has gotten so much stronger since the last time we tried, that I have high hopes.