Winter Music

 Sigh... she's still lame. But bouncing happily. ;)  And.. now I'm really starting to panic that this is going to be something bad. And it makes me sad. Because I want to ride her. We were really starting to click and have fun and be brave.  I guess I'll maybe check her Saturday again. Debating whether I should give her bute or not and ride and see. But that seems like I might be pushing it. Sadness.... Of course.. she did this when I turned her back out after a quick lunge to check her... I fail to see how me riding her on bute for a short ride will cause more damage this her wiping out!!! Good grief!

  Well poo. Today was a frustrating day.  Life got away from me but I managed to take Lyric to Ashland to ride with Kelli. Unfortunately I suspected that she was still lame when I went to fetch her from the pasture. I tossed her in the roundpen to check and... she just bounced. Ha ha. Not helpful Lyric! I did see a bit of trot which looked okay... and regardless, Kelli and I needed to check out our saddles.      So.... We both ordered dressage saddles from the same company at the same time. The saddle fitter sent in our orders. I got a brown one and Kelli got a black one. And we got them and rode in them. And they were fine-ish. Kelli's was really not quite right but she kept messing with it to try to fix it. Mine felt awfully wide and was sitting a little low but in the beginning Lyric felt okay in it. But looking back.... (I'll have to check my blogs!) I feel like she's been a little mincy and short strided recently and it seems like it correlated with the sad...

Well... I Rode at home today and she is lame. Sigh...  We started at the walk... she is still mincy and short and I'm having to kick/squeeze almost every stride. She doesn't want to stride out and when I insist, she breaks into the trot instead. But she's lame at the trot too. Dangit!! So, I got off and lunged her to see... It felt like it was front end... and it looks like the right front. So then I lunged her without the saddle, because I'm curious as it seems to be increasingly worse since we got her dressage saddle and our jump lessons haven't been as bad. But she was still lame. And maybe she would have worked out of it, but... she's been on previcox for at least 3 or 4 days now, so... I decided not to push it. Sigh. We walked home.  Bless Patrick though! He was here at 8 am this morning putting a shoe back on Funny (thank goodness as she's now taking Lyrics place at the show). And then I texted him again and told him no rush as I had already swapped po...

I met Sharon today at Ashland for a nice hack with her and Baylor. I rode Lyric in her dressage saddle and she still felt sticky and short strided and unwilling to really stride out. And it didn't get much better even after 30 minutes of walking. However, we did trot the gallop trail and that did help. We had a nice ride regardless and enjoyed ourselves.   When we finished the trail ride I took Lyric into the arena because I wanted to practice our test. And she felt pretty awful. She was braced, not lifting her back, sticky and fussy. I had to get after her with the spurs. She's not wanting to bend left and was running into her canters. So, I got frustrated. Which I regret. I did end up taking her to the trailer and putting the jump saddle on her instead and tried again. It was marginally better. She was more forward and I didn't have to get after her every stride. She seemed more willing to lift her back but did go behind the vertical more. Sigh... And especially in the dr...

Lesson day! I rode Funny first and then swapped out ponies and took Lyric for XC. We rode alone which was nice because Jacel wanted to really be able to work through some things. It worked out well because Laura couldn't join us anyways. So, since she wasn't with us, I asked to borrow her bit again to see if Jacel liked it.    I got on a hair early so we were able to go do some hills before hand. She felt a hair tight again starting out, despite the back on track on during the trailer ride. We headed to the XC field and hung out for a minute while Jacel was finishing up with Courtney. After they were done, they both headed back because Jacel was riding one of Courtneys horses and Courtney couldn't pony one. So Lyric and I did more hills but she was pissed! One of Courtneys horses was a tiny (like 14 hand) stallion who was adorable and thought Lyric was hot stuff. Apparently she thought he was pretty cute too. So she was a bit anxious and worked up. But we survived. We trott...

  How lucky am I?! Seriously... I got up this morning and fed my four wonderful ponies and then got to take two lesson in my arena at my farm! And with Jacel! I adore her. She is seriously talented at teaching horses and riders! Lyric was on babysitting duty last night so she stayed in with Dan. I opted to get up and feed her and leave her in until my lesson because she tends to be naughty to catch sometimes. And I figured since she had been in all night, today would be a good time for her to decide she didn't want to be caught again. And my lesson was at 8:30 am, so.. not like she stayed in forever. Plus she got hay!    So I tacked up and we headed up to the arena. She was a good girl and I told Jacel that she was a little sore the other day but I was hoping she was okay now. So I walked her off and Jacel watched and didn't notice anything and then she had me trot. And crap.. she was lame! Like... very lame! But as I trotted a few more steps and then a circle or two, she...

  We have an awesome farrier! He showed up yesterday while I was at work and put Lyrics shoe back on. And poured another pour in pad. Yay! So today, I was tempted to not ride. It was overcast and misty and I am so tired. I honestly wanted a nap. And I had to work on two horses today this afternoon. But, Mike made the comment that it's supposed to rain Wednesday through Saturday and today was the last non-rainy day for a bit, so... I made the effort and rode both girls. At home, which.. isn't as much fun as Ashland but certainly quicker. But I'm glad I did. And the sun came out and the weather was quite nice.  I rode Lyric first and I got on at the trailer and rode her up to the arena. We did a good bit of walk work to start. We focused on staying straight in her neck and body and then worked on turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches. She's getting good at them. We also walked the poles I had set up. Except, she tripped on a few so they weren't exactly spaced ...

 Well... Lyric was put on previcox for a few days to see if that would help her feeling of minciness... and then yesterday afternoon I noticed she was missing a front shoe. Um.... that's not going to help!!! And grrr... we have the cavaletti clinic tomorrow! Sadness. I left her in with Dan last night figuring that would help her foot and then decided to try the clinic with her scoot boot and see. Maybe it would be enough to keep her comfortable. Or we could just do the walk stuff and then bail out. I'm going to lose my $75 regardless and it would be so educational for her if she could do it! So I tried. And... she was fine! She actually felt a hair better than the last ride. Although one circle she felt a hair mincy but then it went away. So we ended up doing the whole clinic. Yay! It was a fun and educational clinic. They always are! Beth had set up four poles in an arc, like a part of a circle. The inside half of the poles was set for the walk and the outside half of the pole...