Winter Music

 field lunging

lesson day. went to catch and pulled blankets off others and they went feral and she tried to also. but was good and stayed attached to me.   hack at ashland - put funny's jump saddle on. sitting low even with shims. but same gullet plate as dressage??  walked around and did 20 minutes before lesson. trotted in field. forward and happy. got to lesson and mincy and short and seemed like she didn't want to go into arena. (footing?? behavioral??). jacel looked at saddle and suggested we try it. Said she looked sound and game, so... trotted and cantered and she got happier. set up grids and did grids and a small course. bigger jumps than last week. happy girl. even jumped out of stride. got more forward and less nappy. didn't have to keep kicking to keep her going. but ha.. definitely not the same as funny. stood quiet on the buckle and then when it was her turn.. not a feral barrel horse in the alley ;)  jumped pretty well! I was a hot mess. That saddle does NOT help me...

 rode at home, lame again tracking right. tried to warm her up as best as i could. dressage saddle.

Well, I took Lyric to Ashland today because I wanted to ride her again and wanted to do a nice long warm up again. And it's no fun at home. Especially because she is so nervous in the neighborhood and it's a lot scarier riding on concrete and peoples yards. So we did.  I put the back on track on and her front back on track boots for the trailer ride. When we got to Ashland I put the dressage saddles on her to see which one might fit better. The peter horrobin is definitely too wide. The loxley seems like it fits her great so.. we tried it without the back on track pad (in case it was the back on track pad that was causing the rubbing). I hopped on and away we went.   She felt good and was pretty forward and marching. Although she had to keep stopping and sniffing things.    It was a good ride.  She trotted fine in the woods. She was forward and not mincy or chompy. However I realized the saddle was sitting too low so after our hack I put the half pad with f...

 So confused!!   gave sucralfate before hauling. bit the chest bar a bunch. put dressage saddle with half pad with front shims.    tacked up, super nervous. hacked for 30 minutes. Super nervous. dredging equipment was loud. Spooked at a log... spooked at a tiny creek. but brave.    got to arena for lesson and trotted around. felt better than at the home arena. more forward but still feels a bit behind the leg. did a few laps then sat for a minute then jacel got on.  jacels findings: walk feels fine. trot feels bad. canter not great on right. feels like right shoulder area. lame steps right front intermittently. lame on tighter right circles and when first tracking to right. right lead canter feels icky like she had to swing her right front laterally to pick it up the first time. very much feels right front up high to jacel. She didn't think she felt stabby/slammy up front... didn't think that her downshifting when you take your leg off was an issue and...

  Ugh...  Managed to sneak in a short ride on Lyric today... I shouldn't have bothered. She felt like crap. We hacked up to the arena and I let her walk around for a few. She was sniffing the ground and investigating. Silly!    Then I picked up the trot and she was not happy. She was fussy and chompy and rooty again. And she feels lame behind now. She also is super sluggish and doesn't feel like she wants to go. If I dared to encourage her more forward with anything other than a cluck or a squeeze, like even a bump with my leg, she would buck or kick out. Sigh... We cantered but honestly, I was a little afraid to ask her to canter. I felt like she was going to buck into it or go into a bucking spree. She didn't, but she didn't feel good in the canter either.    I decided then to do the raised walk poles but I walked them, the trotted around to them again, then walked through them and repeated. We did it 3 times each way. And she started to feel a little bet...

Whooo hooo!! Way to break in the new year!    I took Lyric for a hack with Sharon and Baylor. We were supposed to go on New Years Eve but it didn't happen so we did today too. It was a good ride! Although in the beginning she stopped and held her left hind in the air (not as high) for a few seconds and then walked off. That's twice now in a few days. She wasn't forging today though, other than a few clicks here and there. We mostly walked but at one point we picked up the trot and she felt lame. But before I could assess it, she spooked and then slipped a little and then I pulled her back to the walk. So... I don't know. Maybe it was just asymmetry... maybe it was the spook? The footing wasn't great so we didn't really try again.