Stretching sunday

I have started enlisting my helpers Sundays to ride Tillie for me at the walk and some trot so she can have an easy stretching Sunday. Tillie seems to enjoy it and I like that it gets her moving without working. Plus the students LOVE it and always ask to ride her :)

Tillie ready and waiting! 

We had a ton of rain Saturday night and found our ring in less then stellar shape with a lot of our lovely footing clumping together/washing and building up to areas of the ring.

Basically it was like soup....but by the end of the day it wasn't AS bad. But definitely something  I reported and it will need to be re-dragged and evened out with maybe more thoughts to solving this drainage issue. 

It ended up being another warm day with some odd weather...half sunny half ominous clouds with intermittent torrential downpours followed by warm sunny skies. I was in a t-shirt half the day and my winter coat the other half! 

Half sunny half stormy

 It produced the most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen....and the picture just doesnt do it justice.

My student on Tillie - doesnt she look thrilled

I was excited to find Tillie licked her breakfast clean! I am hoping the ulcer treatment is starting to work. After talking with P saturday, she suggested doing more prevention so I didnt have to treat and deal with the hassle of that every so often.

I also realized Tillie has some rain rot kind of buried under her coat (which is crazy cuz her coat isnt THAT thick) when I was brushing her saturday. I now think this is what is causing her back soreness and have started treating it...hopefully it heals soon despite all this wet weather!

I used Tillie in a ground lesson to teach this group of students interested in owning a horse how to approach a horse, give treats, do carrot stretches, groom, blanket and pick feet. She was such a STAR and loved the little kids. You could see her watching them (they were shorter then her belly!) and was so careful and polite. It made me just want to kiss her. 

Unfortunately, when helping the student practice blanketing I noticed  that her right hock looked slightly larger...instantly my hysteria sets in since that is her cellulitis leg.

I had a bit of a hard time determining where is looked big at first...I just knew it did. I literally ran my hands all over it (didn't feel any heat) and ruled out areas by comparing the two. The outside looked normal, the cap looked normal...the filling seemed to be on the inside just above the joint. 

left (normal) hock

Right hock

Part of me started questioning if it was lighting...but I swear there is/was some minor filling...The two pics above are hard to compare because its different angles/closeness. But I felt like I couldnt see as much definition on the inside of the right hock as I could the left. 

I took her out and trotted her both ways and she looked sound...but having experience the cellulitis and the entire year it took to get back to normal made me start looking for new scratches and check some smaller ones I found the day before...and even check for mud fever. 

I of course text a barn friend who talked me off the ledge and said if she was sound on it not to worry...so here's me trying not to worry!

At least my horse knows when to behave

My last two posts documenting the worst day ever has certainly marked quite the welcome wagon to 2016. I really hope this doesnt set the tone for the rest of the year.

I decided to hope and pray that I could go to the barn yesterday and get some relief from the mess and have a nice relaxing ride.

The night after the shitstorm...Gunner and I taking shelter in my study with reinforcements. 

I got on and forced myself to not touch my reins at all in all three gaits. I let Tillie walk, trot and canter both directions for two laps - yes even the canter! Amazing how well shell canter on a loose rein, but as soon as I ask for more, she braces and speeds up.

Note to self: try this warm up more often. Not only did Tillie seem to enjoy it, I enjoyed it. There is just something soothing about getting up into a half seat or two point and jogging around.

I slowly put her to work and she was quite light in the bridle. Maybe a hair lighter then I would like so I started off asking for longer contact and stretch. She was slightly rude about it...she would carry herself high and then quickly dive down. I wouldnt call it rooting since she wasnt leaning, but was just lacking patience of the pace I was allowing her to take the contact since I wanted to be sure she was taking it without losing it.

So not appreciating my need to destress involving her 

I trotted her over this little grid to an easy/generous bending line a few times. First jump was a tiny X she could likely trot like a caveletti with 4-5 canter poles to a tiny 18" vertical with a two stride bend to a 2 ft vertical.

She was a bit sucked back, BUT I didnt use a ton of leg to push...I merely wanted to stay out of her way to see what she would do. Shockingly she meandered through and landed not really sure what the big deal was about. She was a bit fish-taily to the bending line so I went through a few more times and mixed in more flatting between to keep her relaxed.

All while riding amoung a group of small children where steering is questionable...and she did great!

I was about to move on to canter work when she started acting spooky towards the fields...with it being dinner time I didnt think too much of it and just used it as an opportunity to school her. She did quite well despite being a bit unfocused. Come to find out a horse had gotten loose and was enjoying quite the jaunt around the property. It caused all the other horses to get riled up which is what Tillie was reacting to. Dont you love when a horse gets loose and its like JAILBREAK!

After things calmed down I did A LOT of canter work, really focusing on her responsiveness to the cue. I wasnt so worried about her inverting since that cant be fixed until she clearly understands the canter aid first.

She was pretty darn quiet and was more willing to break to the trot BUT I started asking for a more balanced trot rather then the running, bracing on the forehand trot. She definitely got it by the end BUT started anticipating the canter aid and would be soft a few steps then would "OH GOD LETS CANTER" with any little movement of my balance and scoot her butt under herself and offer to canter. 

So we worked on getting the trot back again to which the contact was much nicer even if she was trying to lean...I just did the whole "well i wont carry you" and relaxed my contact until she figured out where she needed to be on her own. 

I ended the ride with cantering through the grid a few more times and let her cool out on a nice long rein. 

eating dinner....or what she felt like eating anyway...

She was cooled out and dinner was dumped, but she only ate a few bites before moving on to her hay. :( Looks like her tummy is still bothering her. I really am hoping its ulcers at this point and was a bit worried while brushing her and blanketing her and trying to coax her to eat more. 

Her weight still looks ok and she did pick at it a little more while I was hanging around chatting and cleaning up...

Luckily I got home to find a present! 

She will begin her treatment tonight! 

When you get sucked into your horse's antics

I was quite excited yesterday to be able to make it out for a ride at a decent ride after work. Despite the cold weather, which literally happened overnight, I was ready to get into our training regime and work on some homework. Not to mention, I was eager to try the new footing for myself!

I dont have any new photos to share unfortunately, so Ill just share some old ones for fun! 

Tillie was fairly nice about getting tacked up...she hasnt been lately with her soreness and ulcer issues, but shockingly she wasnt really back sore at all! Still girthy but her ulcer meds should be here hopefully soon. We did some carrot stretches (with left over candy canes!) and got a few pops out from her neck. Today it was only stretching to the right we got them...most days its both sides.

Anyway, we marched down to the ring with purpose to join fellow blogger Emma and another barnmate on her greenie. Knowing Tillie hates the cold, I planned to let her walk and trot around for a bit on a looser rein until she settled in. I made a mental note to bring my quarter sheet and BOT back pad as well (I dont spoil her or anything).

This was my first ride on our new footing and couldnt wait to see if I felt a difference.

New footing!!! 

It was a bit crunchy and starting to want to freeze, but I was really impressed that it still felt nice and bouncy and forgiving...the sand would have been as a hard as a rock. There is some deeper areas that provided some challenges later in our ride, but Ill touch on that later.

Starting out in the walk, Tillie really wanted to be quick...I tried not to fuss at all too much and decided to let it happen with it being so cold and just use circles and changing direction to monitor that. Pushing into trot she felt a bit tense through her body and was hesitant to turn off my outside aids, but she eventually gave in and started maintaining a nice rhythm.

After working on both sides I started putting her together in walk and established inside bend off my inside leg aids and thought about "catching" her with the outside. I took the opportunity to try to work on my own evenness as well. She worked well at the walk and while she wasnt totally relaxed as I would like, decided it didnt want to dwell too much.

Is this relaxed enough for you?

Pushing into trot we worked through the normal conversations and did some random figures and changing rein so she couldnt anticipate and started working into the forward and slower trot homework from our last dressage lesson. This all went quite swimmingly and she began to relax and offer to stretch when I allowed.

I decided it was time to ask for canter. Knowing it was the first canter of the ride tried to keep my expectations light and my own riding out of her way to let her warm up here. I got in pseudo half seat so my bottom lightly touched the saddle, put my hands forward and let her right lead canter just happen. I kept her on the 20 M circle for this. She offered a trot transition and I allowed so we changed the rein to do left lead and it started off just as nicely.....

I swear there is a nice canter in there some days.

...Until she went into the deeper footing in the corner. Her response was to brace and race. I did my best not to grab and put her on a smaller circle and let that do the work of suppling for me but Tillie has caught on to this trick and decided steering wasnt for her.

After a good 2-3 circles of establishing that NO TILLIE you MUST steer when there are this many horses in the ring, we came to trot and I prepared to try again. Well coming down to trot she reverted back to her greener days of holding her head and neck in the "im pretty and doing this whole on the bit thing" that is fake and there is NO contact there at all...but it looks like Im pulling on her because im trying to find some resemblance of weight in my reins.

Once I had at least something to work with, I tried for canter again to work on getting one that was more level headed. Once again it all was fine...until she caught site of the straight away and decided why not brace and head that way and build into a hand gallop...that sounds fun. NOT.

I had to use a one rein stop and kick the snot out of her with my outside aids since that is what she chose to ignore and after some protesting she came down to a walk. Took a minute here to reestablish contact and had to go back into trot work for a while since she wanted to do this choppy jiggy trot behind the contact and be cheeky with me like "Ohhh see I can go slow"

She produced some lovely trot work here after a few laps and was quite supple either direction, even left bend!

I knew I had to canter again though and get a quiet, SOFT canter before I called it quits so I started randomly asking for trot, canter trot and canter on a circle for a bit and back to trot.

She shockingly didnt get too expectant to canter but I just felt like we were out of sync. We werent clicking and I felt like transitions were full on in the 2 score range complete with giraffe mode and inverting.

can we go back to this night when we could canter outside of a circle without losing our brain?!

A few times in the ride, my trainer D's voice came into my head probably because Tillie has acted this way more in his lessons then with anyone else...but all I could hear was "nothings changed in a while, you need to do something to get a bigger response here..."

When walking her out to cool down she was still quite speedy...but at that point I didnt want to mess at all anymore or have any more arguments. I realized I got sucked into her antics already this ride and I felt really disappointed with myself. I have been really good lately about not getting so rattled, but this is the first ride in a long time it got to me.

I dont want to lose this magic!

I guess these rides are bound to happen...but I instantly feel helpless and like I shouldnt be riding unless in a lesson setting. I crave a dressage lesson so bad it puts me off wanting to ride again until I get one which is ridiculous. It doesnt help my last ride in the smaller ring wasnt particularly splendid either...even though that one I didnt get rattled as much it sorta caught up to me here.

Logically I can talk myself off the ledge, but emotionally I succumb to all the negativity. I realized by the time I got home, I have only been in 1 actual P lesson in a month between holidays and Tillie's shoe...and realized SHE has been the reason Ive had confidence and the cool calm go with the flow mentality lately.

I was contemplating missing this weekend to attend a local show, but I think after this ride it is apparent I need to make a visit with DR. P as I am calling her now.

Worry warriors

In my last post, I brought up some health concerns regarding Tillie that may or may not be as big a deal as I am making them out to be in my head (ok probably most definitely not). I finally caved and texted my vet who likes to call me the worry warrior because without fail I worry about everything and anything even when its fairly normal. I realize this makes me a bit neurotic...

To bring a few to light:

1. Almost every Sunday after trailering to my jump lesson saturday, she goes off her grain. I can go haul to a dressage lesson and she eats just fine though (I will admit though she is a lot less looky at the dressage barn then the jump lesson barn). 
2. She has gotten progressively more aggravated brushing or tacking up...especially girthy.
3. She has been so incredibly back sore she buckled so low Christmas even I thought I might cry
4. She yawns a lot...like abnormally a lot. 

Maybe if I dont look at her she wont notice I am here...

#1 and #2 most definitely sound like ulcers to me but its just a bit abnormal, in my experience, for a horse to go off grain for one specific day and not consistently on and off when they have them.  She used to always be a good eater and would eat pills out of her grain no problem, but now any small change as of late she takes a bite and wont touch it all. She will eat her hay, treats etc eagerly though...

So my initial attempt to treat the ulcers with Abler's pop rocks isnt working with her now being so picky. So plan B...I ordered their Stable Pack tubes in the hopes that will do the trick.

#3 is still up in the air on causes...so next steps on remedying it will have to happen as I check things off the list...below is what possible causes could be:

• Harder work schedule/jumping more so is sore in that those muscles are working harder right now
• New bit is making her way of going a bit different using new muscles
• Saddle Fit
• Ulcers (recently did some reading that ulcers can cause backs soreness)

I think its possible all of those things could be attributing to it, but I am hoping its the Ulcers...Ill be interested to see if it changes anything after treatment. Ill also be having the chiro/accupuncturist out next month so hopefully shell be able to provide more insight as well.

Doesnt Tillie just look so amused

#4 Is an odd one...I felt a bit moronic texting my vet asking him about a horse yawning a lot but I really do notice it quite a lot. Its always after we ride without fail, but sometimes I see her do it in the field, after eating or just hanging out in her stall. I have a never ending collection of yawns from Tillie because of just how often she does it.

Just hanging out in her stall

My vet's initial response is not to worry...but lets not forget I am the worry warrior. So in true worry wart fashion, I start researching why horses might yawn and those findings seem to be debatable and nothing really set in stone and that, like us, horses can yawn for various reasons:

• Some believe horse yawn with abdominal discomfort or when colicking (makes sense if she has ulcers...)
• To release tension (when done after riding or a chiro/massage treatment)
• Stretching their jaw after the bit comes out or if they tense their jaw when riding

not a yawn, but stretching after chiro and just adorable.

Of course I cant help myself and continue reading more and more as there seems to be no shortage on the theories of why horses yawn....

• another source says horses yawn when they are stressed as a calming effect to release endorphins and then associate that nice feeling so do it when they arent...Thats super helpful right?
• Drowsiness or rather they will when starting to wake up from snoozing
• To catch their breath if they have been holding their breath or not getting enough air intake
• After something pleasant happens (lol way to contradict everything else I have read right?!)
• Yawn when their state or arousal changes pleasant or unpleasant...after being stressed or frightened or after something they enjoyed (again super helpful....)
• Last and most frighteningly least, yawning can be a sign of neurological issues which is caused from a liver disease

Some articles adamantly insist is it stress and pain related while others insist it isnt and its simply a change in arousal (waking up) and drowsiness and some say all of the above.

**head desk**

I must walk away from google now...

My vet did question her ability to sleep and if her environment allowed for that. I truly think she can sleep just fine since many times in late afternoons Ill get pictures from barn mates like this:

So, in short, I have no idea why Tillie yawns. I may be turning this into a mountain when its a molehill...but in the meantime Ill try my best NOT to worry. Silly worry warrior just doesnt want to lay down and leave me alone!