....On hold....

Charlie and I have been kind of on hold the past few weeks. I've been alternating between riding him bareback and in the western saddle, but I'm really missing having an english jumping saddle. The hunt is on for one in my price range, and I have a few leads, but I also have to figure out what to do with the Toulouse....

What's going on up there?

In the meantime, bareback or western it is! I like bareback because I can really feel what Charlie is doing underneath of me and it offers a good workout on my end, but what Charlie really needs right now is lots of work on long and low and trotting with impulsion. Bareback + big trot = not comfortable or sustainable for either of us! I can push Charlie into more of a workout in the western saddle, but it continues to stay hard and stiff, even though I keep oiling it. Neither myself nor Charlie like that so much for long periods of time.

Added the draw reins again yesterday, with moderate success

We have done a lot of little trail rides, even venturing a little bit down the road. There are lots of deer out right now. Good continued desensitizing for Charlie. We saw two bucks on Monday and a doe with her little fawn this morning.

In other news, Charlie the Cat had to have a cystotomy just about two weeks ago. Poor guy had a huge bladder stone :( Luckily we have pet insurance through PetPlan (best decision ever!), so financially it was not an issue. Now he's essentially back to normal, and I've already gotten reimbursed for the bulk of the payment, which is nice.

Ouch!

A "Get Well Soon" card from Gran

Also, my sister got a job in Indiana. Since the start date was less than three weeks from when she accepted, I took a few days off last week and drove out with her to look for apartments. It ended up being quite the whirlwind tour, but all in all we had a great little trip and found a place that I think will be perfect for her.

This weekend I'm heading down to Maryland to cheer on my best friend in an Alumni IHSA competition. I almost signed up for it myself, but ultimately decided I'd rather save the entry fees for something else since I haven't jumped a course in...well...a couple of years (!). I just wasn't sure it would be worth the gamble to see whether I've still got it in me to jump an entire course on a horse I've never ridden, after having so little recent jumping practice. Emily has stayed competitive, though, so I'm anxious to root her on!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

Today was Charlie's 8th birthday! It's hard to believe how quickly time flies...

Emily was here visiting from MD this weekend, so we spent some quality time with Charlie, making sure he got the full spa treatment and lots of love and treats on his special day.

All that hair....

After an in depth grooming session (complete with mane pulling, fetlock trims, and lots of conditioner) we spent some time having a bit of fun in the ring. 

After a little while, I even hopped on for a quick bareback ride. Initially Charlie was very preoccupied with trying to sidle over to the grass just outside the ring, but ultimately he avoided the temptation and was very patient and well-behaved. 

Can you tell how happy I am?

In the end, we opened up the gate into the far pasture and turned Charlie out for a nice graze. The other horses were staying cool in the barn, but Charlie was relishing the fresh green grass. He was one happy horse, and this was one perfect Sunday morning :)

Freedom!

Special times with a special boy

Back to bootcamp

Saturday morning after the last snowstorm

This week marks the start of our return to bootcamp. With the ever-growing amount of daylight hours, it is finally bright enough and warm enough in the mornings that I can drive out to see Charlie before starting work (and the snow is almost gone!). We both need to get back in shape in order to enjoy the really nice warm weather once it rolls around. I have big plans of doing lots of trails, jumps, and fun rides this summer, and today was a great start toward getting us both back in that routine. 

I can work with this!

Although I had planned to start working Charlie today in side reins and not actually do any riding, he was so darn cute and calm when I went out to get him that I said screw it. If he's got a brain today, we're doing something fun! So I hopped on bareback with his rope halter. We did nothing but walk on a loose rein - well, no rein actually - as I felt trotting would have hurt his back (and my butt!), but it allowed us to refresh our neck reining skills and practice seat and leg aides.

Perfect start to the day

After about ten minutes I got off and the rest of the lesson was on the ground: walk on, whoa, back, all of it done while walking in a figure eight pattern to loosen and strengthen the muscles in Charlie's back and neck. Throughout it all I kept minimal, if any, contact with the lead rope, mainly leaving it looped over his neck. Charlie was content to follow wherever I went, stopping when I stopped and only moving forward on a kiss, which is exactly what I wanted. In tune! When I asked him to whoa and stand, he did (yay for remembering last week's lesson!).

Along with the walking, I did a lot of this ground tying reinforcement today and was able to get much farther away from Charlie than I had during our last session, and for extended periods of time. We will keep working on this a little bit each day, because I want any horse I'm working with to know that if I request him to "stand", particularly if the lead rope is dropped straight down, he must stay wherever he is until I release him. 

Sometimes being good calls for some comic relief

I have found that it is beneficial to leave the rope hanging during this training as long as your horse is past the point of flinging himself away from pressure (see our previous lessons here) and he's already mastered standing still with you holding the rope. The main reason I like it is that if your horse does try to move with the leadrope dangling, he'll inevitably step on it and end up stopping himself. This reinforces that in order to avoid that pressure, he should not move his feet.

I'm looking forward to doing some more of this and hopefully integrating some longeing tomorrow. 

Bareback is good for the soul

Before I fed the horses on Friday night, I decided to ride but I wanted to do something fun. Too much ringwork and naughty horses under saddle. I wanted to just enjoy Charlie. So on went his bareback pad and off we went to one of the big empty paddocks (since the horses are on night turnout it was wide open). I've been wanting to ride out there forever; figured I might as well take the chance now before we move away! So off we went.

Go time?

All this space...

Gone were any of Charlie's pissy grunting leg-biting antics that have frequented our ring rides lately (more on that later, I'm trying to figure out what exactly is going on). He was happy and responsive, only calling out once to a friend who was hand-grazing nearby. Charlie was so awesome, in fact, that I braved a trot all around one side, and then a canter. And then a grab-mane-and-go fast canter! I was riding the wind. Me and my TB...in a huge field...bareback. Goal achieved. What a perfect way to end the day.  :)

Sometimes all you need is this

A winning day for Charlie

As it was a busy day for me today, after working/riding this morning I ran over to my mom's house to take care of their dogs before booking it back to the barn to squeeze in Charlie's 12:30 vet appointment before work later that afternoon at the dog rescue. It was a deluge outside but apparently everyone and their mother thought today would be a good day for spring horse stuff: there were multiple vet appointments (with different vets), a dentist appointment, and a farrier visit all scheduled around noon today with different people...how odd is that?

I made sure to get there early to ensure Charlie was clean and spruced up for his Coggins pictures (yes, they are doing them digitally now) - which he was, thanks to my bath earlier in the week and the fact that I kept a sheet on him:

The awkward "I'm cute, right? You have treats?" face

That's better

He's really filling out nicely, although I think those withers detract from his neck

Shiny shiny! And his mane is actually laying all on one side for once

Then we waited and waited and waited....the rain was pouring down outside and making it nearly impossible to hear over the constant drumming on the roof of the indoor. I figured the vet was probably caught up in the bad weather, why waste this time? So what did I do? Hopped on Charlie. Bareback (like, really bareback, because I didn't want to mar his sleek coat with pad rubs or sweat marks). The rain was pounding and the wind, whistling. Oh, and there were the two new paint mares, one of which is in heat, in the round pen at the end of the ring due to the storm (they are normally out 24/7 so they don't have stalls). How was Charlie you ask? Perfect!!

Yup. True bareback for once. I'm sure I'll feel that tomorrow.

We only walked, my tailbone wouldn't be able to handle anything else without the protection of a bareback pad, practicing stop/go/stop/back/go and lots of turns and serpentines. He couldn't have cared less about the mares or the rain or the people walking back and forth outside of the ring. After about 10-15 minutes he started to get bored so I got off and we practiced liberty commands on the ground without a lead rope: come, walk, halt, back, yield hindquarters, etc. Wouldn't you know that little devil of mine decided today was the day he would show off like a pro! I had him trotting next to me on command, doing circles, whoaing to a halt within a step or two and backing up with just a hand signal and voice command. Where is the video camera when you need one?!

Then the vet came, he got his shots and coggins bloodwork/pictures....Charlie did great except he decided he didn't want any shots on his left side today (two were given on his right, and then the one blood draw after which he decided enough poking was enough). I'll chalk that one up to the fact that he'd been out of his stall for over an hour, which is time to cue the boredom in Charlie's brain, and the rain and wind was picking up just in time for that last vaccine (I'm sure Charlie was thinking, "Mom! The noise and weather wasn't so bad before, but you didn't tell me it might bite!"). It's ok, nothing can mar my happiness with him today :)

Checking out the mini waiting for her vaccines from Vet #2

Oh, did I mention we lost power halfway through?

Heeeelllo ladies :) He gets along with everyone and loves to flirt, the ham