Settling In

Royal's been at the new place for a few days now and he's settling in very well. He survived some thunderstorms the first couple days which probably accelerated the acceptance process. It's hard to fight over the pecking order when everyone needs shelter. He's also getting close with Gabby the filly, who looks almost exactly like him. Seriously, it's kinda spooky as we have no reason to believe they're related. But they both are red/copper bays with stripes and two hind socks. We'll just have to call them the twins.

Monday, we started to get acclimated to the place. The bugs were pretty bad, so I put on his fly bonnet and kept the halter and lead rope on. I have to say he looked pretty unique.

Royal's Ridiculous Getup

His butt cut also looked good too. Not good good, but not infected or needing stitches. It'll probably be totally healed up in a month or so.

The main riding area is a former cornfield across the creek, which is plenty big. I got to survey it last week, but I didn't realize how deep it was in some places, especially close to the creek. Royal would sink up to his fetlocks just walking around, and the dirt was just inert. No spring or elasticity. At the old farm, we mostly rode in the arena, which was mostly shallow but fairly springy, or out in one of the pastures. So this is a change for both of us. My jumps had already been put out, and I tried to put them in more shallow places, but Royal was just reluctant. Usually he's pretty eager to jump, especially jumps he knows well, but I think the footing was unsettling to him. He's just not used to it, and being a RBE, any change tends to worry him more than it should. The good news is that it'll pack down fairly easily and hopefully be very riding friendly before long.

Then it was time to explore the road! The property is off a loooooooooooooong dirt road that houses several horse places, so people are used to them going up and down the road. And Royal was happy to go exploring.

We made it about a mile up the road before heading back. I usually hate the term "barn sour" because it's often not true. It usually means a horse who shuffles away from the barn and power walks back. Royal's the opposite: he power walks away from home and moseys back. He really likes to explore and gets less spooky on the journey out. Seriously, we encountered fast cars, ATVs, people loading brightly colored things onto brightly colored vehicles and barking dogs, none of which made him do anything other than blink. The puddles and plastic bag tied to the fence were going to kill him, though. Obviously.

The next day, we tried some jumping. It was suggested to me that I should move the jumps closer to the middle of the field, as it might be shallower there. And it was. I still had to be careful placing them, but Royal wasn't sinking as much. It was a short session, just to remind him of what jumping was in order to prep us for Carriage House. Then we headed out on the road again.

 Gabby says, "Wait, don't leave!"

Bandit and Xena are confused. And Coco doesn't care.

The road is the exact opposite of the field: Very packed, almost as hard as concrete, which is mostly great. One of the ways to strengthen a horse's tendons is Long Slow Distance Conditioning, which basically means walking for a long time on a hard surface. And we have plenty of that. The only problems are the little stones on the road, which would cause Royal to flinch a bit if he stepped on them. I was sort of surprised by this, but then again, the dirt road surrounding the old farm was very soft, to the point of sinking down in some places (which made driving on it really interesting). Again, this is just going to take some getting used to.

We walked down the road for a long time, all the way to the highway. Royal, of course, wanted to keep going, but I was not in the mood for highway riding.

 No, we are not going down the highway. Maybe later.

 As usual, he walked much slower going back home, actually taking in the sights, stopping to graze, look at the pretty tree, and sniffing the flattened/petrified squirrel corpses. Ew.

 There's a sheep farm on the road, which seemed to contain no sheep when we first passed it. When we came back, however, the ewes and their lambs were out and making lots of noise. I don't know if Royal's ever met any sheep before, but he had no idea what to make of these.

We stopped to take in the cuteness of the sheep when two of them left their barn and started running right at us. Royal just about had a heart attack as the Horse-Eating Sheep of Death came at us as fast as their little sheep legs could take them. Luckily the Sheep of Death were contained by a fence, but aren't they cute?

We escaped the Evil Sheepies and made it back safely. I was worried about Royal's hooves considering all the stones he stepped on, so I mixed up a gram of powdered bute with molasses, which ended up being very messy. I'd never mixed bute and molasses when it was 90 degrees and wasn't prepared for how runny the molasses was, and got it all over. On my breeches, the lead rope, the handle of the dressing room door. Blech. Next time, I'll wear gloves. Gabby was happy to have her buddy back and would not stop harassing him as he tried to drink. Ah youth. They'll figure it out in time.

So far, so good. I'm very happy and Royal seems very cheerful. Onwards and upwards.

Moving Day

A new chapter in this wild adventure with Royal began on Saturday, when he moved up to my sister's house. It was a sad couple of days at the old barn, with BJ leaving and me packing the trailer. And it was hot. Really hot. July hot. I tried to take Royal for one last walk on the road, but he was not a happy camper. The other horses were crying for him and he kept whinnying back. He did stuff his face with a lot of grass, though.

Saturday morning, it was time to leave. I'd already packed all my tack and supplies from the farm into the trailer dressing room and the only things left were the jumps/toys. It took me a while to figure out how to fit them all in the back of the truck, but eventually I got them all in there.

It was sad to say good-bye to the barn owner; she really helped all our horses heal physically, and I don't think Royal would have turned out as well as he did if he wasn't in good health. You can be the best trainer in the world, but if your horse is not feeling good, you won't get nearly as much done. I really owe her a lot, and it was hard to leave. I've left the other two barns under very bad circumstances (Last Chance Farm* decided to stop taking care of our horses, and Third Reich Stables* threatened to shoot them), so leaving was a very necessary no-brainer. This was different, but I think it'll turn out alright in the end.

*Names changed to protect me from the crazy.

It was a short drive to the new place, and Royal seemed pretty interested in his surrounding. I walked him around the pasture, and he seemed pretty relaxed, sneaking a bite of grass every ten feet. After our little circuit, I turned him loose. The other horses were very interested in this newcomer.

We opened the gate and the only one who went through was Coco the old pony. He and Royal got to know each other.

And decided that they were alright with each other. 

The other three horses were not so sure what to do about the new boy. Two of them are Arabian mares. Now, I love Arabians. They can be so smart and quick thinking, but also so skittish and flighty. An Arabian, most of the time, is a great problem-solver. The other times, their problem-solving strategy is to run around REALLY FAST until the problem goes away. And that's how the three decided to try to solve the Problem of the Unfamiliar Horse. It proved unsuccessful.

Royal haz a confused.

Eventually, my sister was able to catch Gabby, the four-year old, and put her in the pasture with Royal. She decided to maintain her distance, but didn't seem to bothered.

Eventually, Xena and Bandit were herded into the pasture, albeit with some fireworks. Gabby decided to join them while Royal and Coco stuck together. Bandit (the boss hoss) made it very clear he didn't want Royal near his two mares, and kept himself between Royal and them.

Eventually, Coco wandered back to Bandit and the ladies, leaving Royal alone.

They all hung around for a while, then decided to go back into the woodsy area.

They then came charging back, with Royal deciding to take a short-cut through all the trees. It was really cool to see his cantering around, bouncing over all the logs and branches. This proved to be a bad idea, though, as he got a nice long cut on his butt, behind the hip (Sorry, no pictures). It seems pretty superficial, but ugly. For the rest of the time I was there, he was content to hang out around in the herd. They haven't accepted him in yet, but there haven't been any bad fights. We had some thunderstorms last night, so maybe that'll speed it up.

I think he'll be very happy.

BJ

BJ went to a new home yesterday, with a new owner who promises to love and spoil him. It's for the best, but it's hard on the rest of us. Me, because I've been his primary decision maker in terms of vet and farrier care over the last seven years; and Royal, who's lived with BJ all that time. Apparently last night, he was very distressed without having BJ in his paddock, and wouldn't calm down until another horse was put in with him. He'll move on Saturday, but it'll be a confusing few days for him.

I kept thinking of a line from Black Beauty: "We don't get to choose the people in our lives. For us, it's all chance." We've tried to be Squire Gorden's to all our horse, using a kind hand instead of a harsh one, and making sure all their needs are met. Hopefully, BJ has found his Squire Gorden or Jerry or Joe, and I think he has.

Still, I'm going to miss the little guy.

MN Hunt Cup Spring Pipe Opener

I wasn't sure I should have gone, at first. One jumping session and a galloping session that went very wrong was not a good prep for going over steeplechase fences in an open field. But, it was only going to happen once this spring and I figured Royal and I needed the practice. And it turned out better than I expected, even with the "special" moments.

I was able to hook up the trailer fairly quickly with a minimum of pushing and swearing, Royal loaded fairly well, and we were on our way. The first wrinkle was that while the same group that put on last year's Hunt Cup organized this event, it was being held in a different place. Instead of the central location of the hunting club, it was being held at the polo fields. I've never been and the GPS took us there in a very weird way, freeway to highway to county road to dirt road to... a stable? Okay... where are the jumps and the rest of the entrants? I looked a little further down the road and saw what looked like jumps in a big field, and slowly drove in that direction, before seeing another trailer turn into a driveway down the road. Phew! The guy at the driveway directed me to the trailer parking, which faced the track and warm-up jumps. Royal unloaded, looked around, and decided he was hungry. I let him survey the facility and get acclimated on the ground. My friend and fellow Parelli student Anna arrived with her mare Piper, and we warmed up together. The organizers had set up a cross-rail and a vertical as warm up jumps, but added a steeplechase flair by filling them with brush. Royal, of course, was initially of the opinion that the brush was hiding demons and was not safe to be jumping. I let him sniff the cross-rail and he decided that the demons were sleeping the jump was safe and he didn't have any more problems with it or the vertical.

When we were ready, we went to the "line" to take our practice run. The problem was that this was right by the starting line, and he could see the horses on course running and jumping, which caused him to start throwing a tantrum. "Why are we standing here, mom? Why aren't we out there RUNNING and JUMPING?" He started pacing and piaffing, making me think we should be trying to go to Grand Prix dressage. We were in a crowded area, so I tried my best to keep him in a relatively small area and dance himself out, but he was in the state of mind where "calm" is less of a mental/emotional state and more of a philosophical concept, like the sound of one tree clapping in the woods. When it was our turn, the timer woman grinned at me and said "You'll probably be going pretty fast, right?" I said, "You may be right."and we took our place at the starting line. We started off at a trot which would be right at home in a harness race and as we turned to the first jump, the right and left halves of Royal brain started fight. Right Brain started going "What is that? More brush? Are the demons hiding THERE?!" and Left Brain went "Oh boy oh boy oh boy a jump!" In the end, with a little help from me going "We are jumping this!" he went over! A little strongly, but he did it. The next five jumps were a bit of the same, which the pictures show, and he was pretty strong throughout the course. The next wrinkle was as we were heading toward the last jump, I heard "Coming on your outside!" and look back to see the other rider on the course galloping at us going towards the big side of the jump (every jump had a 2'6" option and a 3'3" option). I figured that at the speeds we were both going, we would be jumping the jump at the same time. While that would have been cool, it wouldn't have been safe, so I opted to circle to the inside and let her pass. She was doing her timed round and I was just doing the practice, so I could take the time hit. We finished okay, but I was kinda disappointed. I had hoped to be able to improve my position over fences, and since I was concentrating so hard on getting us around the course, I could tell that had gone out the window. Royal had quite a few unique jumps and only my experience with his "special" moments kept me aboard. And the professional pictures (kudos to Sam Stern/Photo Esq. Photography! :) ) confirm it.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Hi ho silver bay!

Oh dear...

Giving the equation devotees a heart attack

A "how in the world did I stay on?" moment

So, yeah, less than happy. Anna rode after me, and Piper was impressed by all the jumps, but they did very well. Afterwards, I sponged off Royal's sweat and played with him on the ground to try to help him organize himself. He did, sort of, and we went back to the start line. This time, there were a lot less horses and people there and we started pretty quickly after we got there. I think the combination of all those helped us have a much calmer second round. This time, I really tried to make sure my leg was more stable. Linda Parelli has a great way to think about it: instead of jamming your heels down and trying to lock them there, think about pushing your knees into your heels. That way, you have structure, but not stiffness. So, the whole way around, I was thinking about my knee going into my heel. And, seeing the pictures, I think it really helped.

Relaxed canter on a semi-loose rein

Alert, yet focused.

Much more stable leg.

Go, Royal, go!

Forward and responsive trot

Boom! Look at that leg! Much better.

A little left behind at the last jump, but a lot better than before

I was much happier with our second round. It was mostly trotting with a little cantering, so I don't know if we were going the appropriate speed. But, a calm, focused, and responsive ride made me extremely happy! Our first outing of the season, and we made a good change from start to finish. We also got a very nice completion ribbon that everyone got. Anna and Piper also had a very good second round. Everyone was a winner!

Bored

Aw, our hunt team is back. I think they're so cool, and that I need to give them names.

We got back to the farm safe and sound, and Royal had a good roll when I turned him out. It was such a successful outing, everyone was so nice and supportive, and hopefully the rest of the season is just a good.

Smart Cookie

Well, the last weekend seems to have just been a small glitch because this week, Royal has been amazing! I think the weather does get to him, being that he is a combination of thin-skinned desert breeds. So, this week, with the weather being much more reasonable, he's just been a peach.

Friday, we did more stuff with clippers. I wanted to give him a bridlepath and clean up his ear fuzz. He wasn't too keen on either at first, but soon realized he wasn't going to die and stood (mostly) still. We also did some trailer loading and deworming. Combine all the annoying stuff on the same day, that's what I do. That way, it's done and we don't have to deal with it again for a while.

Well hey there, little bridlepath. Where'd you come from?

Saturday, it was supposed to rain, but I didn't care. I hadn't ridden in a while and I figured the rain would provide some "controlled chaos" for my little extrovert. And he didn't disappoint, getting nervous at all the noise, but calming down fairly quickly with a figure-8 pattern OnLine. It only got better with partial disengagement and stretching. I wanted to see how much of an impression our last Game of Contact session made, especially with the rain creating an extra stress. At first, he had trouble. Stopping, gapping mouth, chomping on the bit, all from the last session. But as he kept hunting the release, he got better. I started asking for frame, and quit the session when he held it steady for a few stride and did the BIGGEST STRETCH EVER for a while when I released. Good boy.

Sunday, I had a review session for Biochem and couldn't get out, and didn't get out on Monday until late afternoon. With the Hunt Cup on Saturday, I want to make sure he's comfortable jumping 2'6" out of stride, so after letting him warm up at Liberty, I set up a jump with guide rails. Normally I don't use guide rails, but they had them last year, and it kinda worried him. I think they made him feel slightly claustrophobic, so better let him get used to them. I had them set up in both directions so he could jump the jump in both directions, but he decided to be clever and create his own jumps by bouncing between the guide rails. It was the weirdest thing ever, and I tried to get a video of it because it just seemed so odd. But Royal has a unique relationship with cute stuff getting caught on camera. He'll do it, I'll think it's cute/interesting and try to get a video of it, and as soon as I turn on the video function on my cell phone, he stops doing the cute/interesting thing. And acts like he never did the thing in the first place. So this was the video I ended up getting. (Sorry for the crappy quality)

"What cute thing? I don't know what you're talking about."

Afterwards, we did more trailer loading, but the with the dreaded shipping boots. Gotta get used to those too. That also went really well, with him letting me put the butt bar up and down with no fuss. I also cleaned up the top of his tail too.

I like it.

Today, after my Biochem final, I wanted to do some jumping under saddle. After all, the last time I did that was Spring Break and I don't want to be rusty as we tackle the steeplechase jumps on Saturday. So I set up the cow jump at 2' and a plain 2'6" jump. After warming up, we went for the cow jump with the flashy Holstein spots and "Moo!" painted on the panel. He wiggled to it and jumping it sort of sideways, but I stayed on and he stayed calm. After a few more hops over that, we tried the 2'6". My initial nervousness vanished as we headed to it and Royal jumped smooth and sure. He has a much easier time getting to a good take-off spot when he's trotting, but I think the size of the arena factors into that. There's not much room to adjust as from the rail to the jump was about 4 strides, but he did well. I only needed to ride for about a half hour total, he was so perfect. Tomorrow, we'll try it again with hopefully a ride on the road.

Good boy.

Little Not-Successes

As opposed to "Little Successes", this past week was something of "little not-successes." I don't know if it was the weird weather or what, but Royal was not in a good mood. Friday, I went out to the farm after class to do some Game of Contact stuff, which did not go well. The wind was causing the doors to bang against the barn, which was not to his liking. He did stand for an awkward-between-the-legs-with me-sorta-under-his-barrel shot of his tail, though.

I tried to help him relax with partial disengagement and stretching, which started to help. As I started to try to play with Frame, it wasn't happening. He kept bouncing on and off the contact and it was really hard for me to keep it. Eventually I decided to go back to stretching, but he wasn't having that either. He kept stopping and gaping his mouth instead of stretching down. I could tell he was getting frustrated, but I kept at it until he would stretch down and hold it for a while.

I wanted to end the session on a good note, so I tried to do what Royal loves: go for a canter/gallop on the dirt road. It started well enough, but as we were cantering along, a bird shot up next to us, causing Royal to spin and stop. I was waffling between two-point and sitting (which was stupid. I should have chosen a position and stuck with it), and being caught by surprise, tumbled out of the saddle. I tried to save myself and land on my feet, but it all went wrong and I landed on my left knee. Ouch! It hurt, but I couldn't see any damage to my breeches or boots. It was the first time I've falled off in a long time. Royal, despite being a little freaked, stayed where he was and let me get back on. We walked back a little way, cantered the other way for a while, and walked back to the farm. Interestingly, when we cantered the second time, he gave me a nice soft canter on a loose rein. It's like he remembered I was up there and he had to take care of me. He seemed to be okay, but I didn't feel like we accomplished anything. When I got home, I found these on my knee.

Hmm. So I did some superficial damage to my knee, but my boots and breeches looked fine. Well, good on Mountain Horse and FITS. They may be expensive, but won't show any damage even if you fall off on a dirt road with lots of little rocks.

Saturday was Horse Expo day, cold and rainy. I went to a very interesting Colleen Kelly talk about rider biomechanics. She was pretty funny and suggested some exercises to help with balance. I haven't tried them out yet, but hopefully they'll help. Otherwise it was shopping and looking at the fabulous living quarter trailers. Seriously, if you've got $70,000+, you could get a trailer nicer than a lot of homes.

Sunday I went back out to the farm, but Royal was REALLY not in a playing mood. He played kinda hard-to-get, which is very unusual for me. He almost always comes up to meet me, so I figured he wasn't feeling top great after our last session. We went for a walk instead, but even that was odd. He was interested in grazing, but didn't want to be touched and seemed kinda moody. Hmm. I wondered if he was feeling sick, but his vital signs were normal. Maybe he was just having an off day; it happens.

Tuesday I was hoping to do some free jumping, so we went to the arena and after I groomed Royal, I put on his splint boots. He did the exaggerated goose-step/stringhalt walk after I put on his hind boots, which is normal. The not normal part was when he didn't stop doing it on the right hind. I checked it, thinking it was too tight. No... so then I took them off. He trotted around sound, but stiff. Hmm. I did my little one-person-amateur lameness exam, stretching and flexing. He was okay with the flexing, but not the stretching. Double hmm. But, again, no lameness or excessive heat. I gave him some bute before I turned him out, which hopefully helped him feel better.

But, all I can say is "hmm." We'll see what happens.

"Good Lord, How You Frustrate Me Minnesota Weather!"

The Minnesota Horse Expo is this weekend, and I'm going on Saturday. It should be fun, but the weather always has to play a few trick. Today? Cloudy, sorta windy, not too bad. Sunday. Partly cloudy, some sun. Tomorrow?

Cold and rainy with a chance of SNOW.

Sometimes I really hate the weather here. Sheldon does a good job getting the general spirit:

Phooey.

Little Successes

AAARRRGGGGGFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLGGGGGGGLLLLLLLL! FINALS! BLERGH!

Okay, now that is out of the way, onto good things. I haven't had too much time to play with Royal (see above), but what little time I've had has been fairly successful. Last Friday was nice and sunny, so we played out in the field on the 45-foot line. He gave me some really nice, soft trot and canter pretty far out on the line. So I, of course, decided to ramp it up and see how he did at the gallop. He tends to get really tight and high-headed, so I anticipated some fireworks. Which I got, a little. He's a little hard to slow down afterwards, so I think the next step is to just let him gallop until he comes back into the canter by himself. But right now, he's not fit enough for that, so we'll just keep doing "sets" OnLine and riding for now. Research has shown that doing sets are really efficient at fitting up a horse and hopefully it'll keep building his self control.

I also may have, erm, altered his tail slightly.

I banged it. (By the way, the term "banged" supposedly comes from the practice of banging tails on blades with blocks of wood to blunt the end) It's not the most radical, but I can definitely see the difference when he moves. I'm not sure I like it, since he doesn't hold his tail like a regular sporthorse. He tends to hold it straight out, especially at higher speeds. So I probably won't do it again. I've trimmed the hairs at the top of his tail and that looks better (will have pictures of it soon). Also, look at the black hair on his legs. It seems like it's staying a lot longer this year, even though he started shedding earlier.

On Saturday, it was cold and rainy and dreary, so we were confined to the indoor and practicing stuff on OnLine. I set up a 2'6" jump and had him practice jumping out of stride. Again, he did very well. He tends to find a pretty good take-off spot on his own, so all I have to do leave him alone when I'm riding. Then I decided to try desensitizing him to the clippers, which also went fairly well. It didn't help that it was raining and someone was longing a young'un in the arena, who was having too much fun bucking and rearing, which got Royal's blood up. But he still let me have the clippers around his head and ears, and actually clip his legs.

He was not very sure if he liked the look or the rain. He was really not happy with the rain.

Sunday we practiced trailer loading. He hasn't been in the trailer since last October, so he was a little nervous, but willing to hop on and off. I didn't have a lot of time, so I left it there. We continued with it on Tuesday, but this time I actually got smart and used the clicker. He tried to be all weary, but the power of cookies won him over. I got it him to stay in the trailer for 5 seconds before backing out. But I need him comfortable in the trailer for the start of our Summer Adventures.

You may remember my *New Years Resolution(tm)* post back in January, and while most of the plans are going fairly well, there have been some changes. First of all, I am NOT planning on competing at Otter Creek, at least not in the spring HT. We're not at the point with the GoC where I feel comfortable adding the stress of competition to it yet. So, instead, I'm dropping that plan and adding three (!) new competitions. The first is the spring version of the MN Hunt Cup! Yay! I was ridiculously excited the news and I'm still very excited. Low-key and relaxed x-c experience not too far away and it was so fun. I don't know if we'll do as well this time, considering a lot of the competitors didn't quite know the purpose of the event: to practice pacing. So, who knows. But it'll most likely be great, and a friend is probably going to be competing as well. Awesome! Then we have the Carriage House Schooling Show, doing the 2' jumpers as a confidence builder, but hopefully also the walk-trot dressage tests. Again, it'll depend on where Royal and I are with the GoC. And, in late June, we have a SCHOOLING horse trial! I know! And it's not too far from the farm, except...

Royal is moving. After graduation, I need to focus on getting a job and more experience for vet school. So, he's going to live at a family member's place, which is going to be a lot cheaper for me. I'll be losing both the indoor arena and closeness to the Cities, but I'll have a lot more space for my jumps and the ability to set up a little dressage arena, plus space for galloping. We'll also be close to a trail park, so I'll be able to do lots of trail riding. So, quite a few pluses, but I'm sad to be leaving the farm. Royal's been there for over six years, and it's become like a second home to me. But the horse care aspect has started to slip (Almost all the shelters in the pastures have collapsed and I am REALLY tired of picking burrs of Royal's mane and tail), and it's not set up for someone like me. So, it's sad, but a necessary change.

The adventure's only begun...

Adventures, Peace, and Pedicures

Bah. Another week, another paper/test/ridiculous assignment. And now the U has one last dirty trick up its sleeve with regards to my internship. We'll see if lawyers have to get involved, but hopefully not.

Royal and I had a grand adventure on Saturday. I had enough time to get some riding in and we played with posture and frame. I can get everything (head, shoulders, spine, abs, knees, and feet) in the right position for about half a stride before it all falls apart. So I'm working in pieces, starting with the abs. It seems like if you don't have those right, it's hard to get anything else. I think I was marginally successful. Afterwards my barn owner asked if I wanted to go for a ride on the road. Which I agreed to, and we moseyed down the dirt road until we got to the highway. And decided to go across. To the suburb-like paved-street neighborhood.

I don't think Royal's ever been in the suburbs before.

But he did great! We first encountered a shiny horse-eating little windmill which he briefly thought was going to eat him but then decided it was in a coma harmless. We walked a little more before we encounter some dangerous children. Normally I would have invited them to come and pet Royal, but he was trying really hard to hold himself together, so I decided against it. To their credit, the little munchkins kept their distance. Onwards, we found some scary siding materials and barking dogs, but he still kept his cool. He wasn't particularly relaxed, but didn't freak out either, apart from leaving a few, erm, "calling cards" on the street. I was very proud of him when we got back to the farm. I also kept chipping away at his mane, and it's starting to come together.

Sunday was... less successful. I tried to work on Liberty stuff and found that we have some significant holes there, especially in the forehand yield. He tends to walk backwards and sort of sideways instead of a nice clean yield. It's definitely something to improve on. And trying a figure-8 at liberty did not go well. At all. He does the pattern perfectly OnLine, but suddenly forgets it at liberty. It probably didn't help that I was trying to do it in the arena instead of the round pen, which was kind of wet. I ended the session feeling kind of discouraged.

Yesterday was pedicure for the boys and they did great. BJ thought about throwing a fit but I had a discussion with him beforehand and he realized that behaving meant he could go back to grazing sooner. But they were almost overdue. I can usually count on 6-9 week intervals between trims, but this time 8 weeks (normal in late winter/early spring) was way too long. Sections of wall almost as wide as my finger got taken off and the change from before to after was pretty stark all around. Crazy weather evidently means crazy feet. And the line from Royal's abscess is almost gone. I forgot to get a picture of it, but it will probably get clipped off at the next trim. Which hopefully means it will be done forever.

Less than a month until graduation. I think see the light/train at the end of the tunnel!

Vet School It Is

So, I had a (mostly) quiet week and a half. It's been a tough time of tests and paper, so I haven't had a lot of time with the horses. But right now, as long as I show up every once and a while with cookies they're happy. A little obsessive and zombie-like, but happy.

 Coooooooooooookieeeeeeeeeees...

On Friday, I had some time between class and work, so guess where I was. I wanted to play with Royal on the 45' line in the hopes that he would not be all crazy-like. He was slightly more sane, but still wanted to zoom around like a maniac. He also has a habit of hitting the end of the line (usually close to the gate), interpreting that as a "come-in-to-the-center" signal, and trotting in all snorty. The progression of bolt-come in has made it had to progress. So, this time my strategy was to allow him to hit the line, come in for one or two seconds, and send him straight back out. We kept at this until he was able to canter around a complete circle without bolting or pulling on the line. Progress! 

I was working on getting him to go sideways over a small log when my barn owner started calling for me. Her old horse was choking and she didn't know what to do. I went to them and felt a hard lump in his throat, by the junction of the esophagus and trachea. I tried to message it down while my BO talked with the vet on the phone. The poor horse was miserable, coughing with half-masticated food coming out of his mouth and nose. The vet said to keep trying to push the block down and help it break up. For an hour and a half, we keep rubbing the old guys neck, trying to break up the block and help him swallow. It seemed to work; the lumps went away and he seemed more comfortable.

At this point, I would love to stop here and say the horse got better, thanks to our intervention. Unfortunately, that was not the case. My BO had to call the vet out later when the horse stopped getting better. It turns out we did move the blockage... down to the entrance to the stomach. The vet had to pass a nasogastric tube and manually break up the blockage. In addition, he had aspirated some of the food, giving him a high chance of pneumonia. He's better now, but it could have been really bad.

The other vet came out the next day for the second half of spring shots, so the boys got jabbed. BJ was good, but Royal threw a conniption fit while he was tied up. Great. He's been so good about it, so I haven't really had to teach him tying etiquette yet. That may change. He also did okay with the shots after I played with him a bit. Luckily, it was just vaccinations and nothing else. No sedations or drugs to mess with his head.

Pictured: Not Royal

But the whole choke event basically made up my mind. I felt so powerless, but also that what I was doing was the right thing. I know I want to do this sort of thing for a career, so for now, it's vet school or bust. I don't know how I'll get there or where I'll go, but I'll make it work. Somehow.

Speaking of vet stuff, Royal's face keeps getting better.

But, he likes to keep life interesting. I found this, probably gotten during a fight with one of the other geldings. No broken skin or tenderness, and I think the hair will grow back fairly quickly

Never a dull moment.

Today Is A Blue Day. No - Orange. Red!

Title inspired by Robin Williams.

The crazy weather is showing no signs of stopping. We've gone from hot and humid to windy and rainy. Royal keeps shedding, albeit at a reduced pace. We haven't had much time to do anything major lately in what has almost been a comedy of errors. Last Saturday, I went out with the intention of doing some finesse, but one of the barn owner's horses was sick, and she wanted my advice. I suppose my experience makes me a pseudo-expert and I was eager to lend a hand. The poor guy had a weird range of symptoms (sweating on his side and flanks, a fever which turned into a temperature worryingly below normal, and just not feeling well), but it didn't seem like anything serious. However, by the time we had taken his vitals and consulted with the vet, I had to leave to get ready for work. Royal was most good and patiently waited while we fussed over the other horse, with one mini-fit. Sunday, just as I was ready to go out to the farm, my grandmother came over and stayed for an hour and a half. Which meant I had very little time to do anything at the farm. I decided to try playing with him on the 45 foot like out in the back paddock. Now, Royal has two modes on the 45: good and responsive or berserk.

 Guess which one he was on Sunday.

 It started out well enough. The trot circles were lovely, but as soon as I asked him to canter, he took off. Right into a deep patch of mud. He lost his footing and his hind legs went flying out to the right. He basically sat down like a dog before popping back up. He seemed no worse for wear, so I did lots of calming exercises with him at the trot (going up and down mounds and sideways to a tree). He had a bit of heat in his hinds so I have him some bute and a massage and made sure his legs were cool before putting him back in the pasture. He was a bit subdued, though. I think he tired himself out.

 Tuesday, I set up a small grid in the indoor; basically a ground pole 9' from a small jump and 9' to a another ground rail. We just did that as a free jumping exercise, which went pretty well. He was a little confused about how to negotiate the ground poles, but the point was to let him figure it out. Didn't have to be pretty or perfect. But I noticed he had this funny scab on his face, near his eye. He seems to get something like this every year. I think he gets so itchy from shedding that he rubs his face raw. But I noticed another scab on his jowl, which was much bigger. I picked off the scabs, put some neosporin on the wounds, and hoped for the best. Totally forgot to get a picture of it though.

Friday, I tried (again) to help him get over his fear of the Blue Blanket of Death and once again felt unsuccessful. It's very frustrating because just as we get to the mythical "good note"  to quit on, something happens and everything goes wrong. He gets really scared of the blanket all over again, and I get really annoyed. So, I'm still at a loss for how to proceed with this. And, to make matters worse, his face wounds were all red and inflamed looking. I tried to put more neosporin on them, but they were so ugly looking. And I STILL forgot to get pictures! Argh! Epic fail day.

Today was better (I had to work all day yesterday). I want to do some jumping, both as a stress releaser and to test the grid from Tuesday. At first it looked like that may not happen, since he was TENSE. All the horses on the property were talking, for no discernable reason, and the arena was creaking. It took quite a bit of ground prep before I felt he was safe to ride, and a lot of stretching undersaddle before he was safe to jump. Once he was, it was awesome. It was still a tiny little jump, so I was able to focus on my position. I've heard pretending you're trying to show someone watching from a distance the bottom of your boots, and it seemed to work, judging from the lack of noise being made from my saddle and boots. It worked at both the trot and canter, although the canter had a few take-off bobbles. Again, the jump was tiny, so we were okay. I felt good to quit when we had two perfect jumps at the canter.

And the best part? His face looked better! The inflammation was mostly gone and it looks like they'll heal well.

Yeah, yeah, laugh at the weird scissor work. I didn't want any hair in the wound, so I had to take precautions. And it appears to have worked. So, I think we'll be okay.