Winter Music

  Lyric had a big day today.  Dr. Barrow came today and Lyric got a coggins and some foot rads. She was a good girl for the coggins. She was pretty good for her front feet rads, but... not so great for her hinds. But not bad compared to some I'm sure. She was confused and it took a bit to get her to do it, and she also kicked out (half heartedly) a few times. But one spanking and she simmered down and we got the rads.  And... she's got no soles. Poor gal. But otherwise, not bad. So I'll hopefully remember to put magic cushion on her tomorrow and she can tough it out til Oct 24th when she gets composites. Dr. Barrows didn't hear a heart murmur so yay.  Then Dr. Febles came and checked her teeth. She was not getting rid of her baby teeth correctly so they were threatening to crowd her adult teeth, so... Dr. Febles cut the outer baby teeth in half and pulled out the front half, so there was room for the adult teeth to come in. (It sounds barbaric but it's not). That wa

 This morning I did a short session with Lyric in the pasture. She was good. Funny and Dan both came over to investigate, and then later Fleck too. Ha! The unicorn fanny pack was giving out timothy pellets and they didn't want to miss out! But she was good. No real releases but I think it's cause she was focused on the food. So... ??? I still wonder if I'm missing something. I plan to do some more body work tomorrow between foot rads and dentistry. But she was good. She's getting better at letting go and giving with pressure on the halter. And we got some good pillar 1 and 2's.  So...... it feels like the slowest baby steps ever, but I guess it took Dan awhile too. I'm just anxious to ride her and I'm torn between wanting to ride and wanting to make her body strong and correct first. I mean... I know better... but I am kind of really wanting to get on her and see how she is! And see if I can help her under saddle. But... I know better. Sigh. It's just ha

 I didn't get a chance to work Lyric yesterday because I took too long at Ashland and then Mike told me that we were invited to his boss's for dinner so I had just enough time to shower. I didn't even feed them last night! Whoops! Oh well. They've got plenty of grass. So today I spent the morning bush hogging and then when I finished I found Lyric and tried to do some pillar work. Unfortunately Mike picked that time to let the dogs out in the dogpen pasture so she was super distracted. Which meant... no luck with getting pillar 1. And I could barely get her to soften to the connection. So, I tried with treats, which sort of worked. I'm trying hard to do positive reinforcement but my patience is not making it easy.  So then I decided... okay, let's go try it on the trailer. We need to practice trailer loading and... there's a nice ramp for a psoas stretch and maybe if she coudn't see the dogs.... ha!! Yeah. That plan backfired a little. She couldn't s

Yesterday Freddie came and Lyric was so good. I held her rather than cross tieing her but she was pretty darn good. She was a bit tight in her hind end, especially on the right side. She didn't kick out at all, but she waved her foot a hair. I think it's more tightness than threatening or aiming. She stood well. Of course yesterday morning she came in without her front left shoe, so I went ahead and pulled her front right as it was sliding off to the side anyways. So she was barefoot on all four yesterday. She looked a bit tender this morning but I told Freddie that I wanted to try her barefoot since I wasn't going to be riding much for the next four or five weeks, and not at all for another week. So we did. He trimmed her up and she looks much better.  But then poor girl was so sore. I don't quite understand how that thin little shoe, half underneath her and with her foot partially growing over it... how she was that much more comfortable than she is with no shoes. But

   You guys!!!!!...... Lyric was perfect!!!!! She loaded, dan first, and hauled nicely. She was a bit nervous when we got to Ashland. She was actually shaking a little in the trailer. Poor girl. But she unloaded well and then she immediately settled. She stood tied to the trailer munching hay while I groomed and then tacked up dan. She met Marvin and was polite. And then we headed out. She hacked all around ashland with us. She just followed along behind Dan. Ha ha.. I can see why she didn't make it as a racehorse! Ha ha... NO competetive drive at all! But, she did seem to keep her neck relaxed most of the walk. And as Kelli pointed out, she was aware and looking around and watching things. She just wasn't nervous or worried or upset. :) So it's not like she was just shut down or on auto pilot. She was just ... good! We hit the first bridge fairly quickly and she went right over it. I almost wondered if she even realized it, but Kelli said she looked at it, and processed

  What a good girl today! I took Dan and Funny to Ashland earlier today and after we got home and had lunch I went out to work with Lyric. It was such a beautiful day too. Our last day of False Fall I think. Doh! Anyways, we went into the round pen and worked on our stuff. We did pillar 1 at the halt and just stood in it for a bit. I even got some snuggles and a few licks and chews. Still no big yawns yet. We did some pillar 2 and then progressed to walking out of pillar 1 and 2. Then we did a tiny bit of trotting in hand. She was much better at it today and while she wasn't relaxed and jello in her brachiocephalic, she was much calmer and starting to think about relaxing. She wasn't braced, but not fully let go. I did get a few steps of her lowering her head and letting go, so yay! Progress! Then we worked on yielding to pressure to bring her head to her side. She's still tough because she almost responds to zero pressure but then when you do use pressure, she just braces.

  Tonight I snuck in a little bit of pillar work. But first, we trotted in the pasture together. On a loose lead! And maybe she was a little bit lower in her head and a little less braced in her brachiocephalics today.    Then we headed into the roundpen and did pillar work. We mostly focused on pillar one static and then walking off. We also did pillar 2 today and that's getting MUCH better. And we did a little bit of pillar 3. We also tried jogging again in the round pen. Going to the left wasn't too bad, but when I was on her right side, she isn't as good. I had to pop her with the lead rope to get her to trot and then that stressed her so she got much more inverted. She also tried to kick out towards me once or twice. Nope! Naughty girl! Sigh. Whoops. Guess I need my whip when I do this, although even then she's still a little inverted and braced. But I did get a few steps of soft neck at the trot. And then we stopped on the loose rein and came back to pillar 1 at t

 This morning I tried again. We went into the roundpen after breakfast (and enough of a break) and I worked with Lyric on the pillars. I started with just asking for pillar 1 at the halt and even knelt down on the ground and just sat there for a bit. She relaxed and even seemed like she was processing some. I still didn't get a yawn or a huge release, but I did get a bit more licking and chewing than usual maybe. We did that a few times and then we did our walks in pillar 1. I played a little bit with having her trot next to me and that got better too! We also ended up playing with pillar 3, but it was no pressure and no agenda.. just... see what you do with it. And it was successful.  I also played a little bit with her turning her head to my hip when I stand next to her and then yielding her barrel over and away. From Aubreys video she posted the other day. It took her a minute at first, and then I left it alone for a bit and went back to just pillar 1 at the halt. Then I asked o

 Tonight I worked Lyric in the round pen. We just did pillar 1 at the walk and some pillars 2 and 3 at the halt. She's getting better at relaxing her brachiocephalics and walking with purpose. I got a few licks and chews, but again, still nothing major.  I tried lunging again. She's getting the hang of it. And she's hard to keep going. ha ha! I hope she has more "energy" when I get on. But she was inverted and hollow and leaning in. I tried to keep her going for a little bit to see if she would settle into a nicer slower and more relaxed trot with her head more dropped, but.. not really. She may have slowed a tiny bit and went from more frantic to just inverted, but... it was pretty bad. I also had to keep pulling (and releasing) her nose in to the center because she is desperately wanting to travel counter bent. Which, duh, is because she is not upright on all four feet. So, I didn't try too long with her as it was just painful to watch knowing what I know. S