Changes

Unfortunately not of the canter lead kind but still good. I found out that the horses are being put on night turnout which means they'll be going from getting around 6 hours outside to closer to 12 hours!!  I'm extremely excited, even though it means an increase in barn drama, and am really happy for my pony who I know will benefit from that extra time out.

On the other hand I had sort of a rough week this week. On Sunday I was able to get to the barn but I just lunged Katai at a walk since I was still under strict directions to allow her to walk only and not ride until Thursday. Katai was great and I was just sad that I didn't get to do more with her.

She had gained some weight and had a bit of belly after a full week off from when I was in WA for work. Ponies will be ponies :-)

The belly

Then I got to ride this guy!

Pretty good for a 4 year old

What was weird though is that I actually really enjoyed the ride. He's young and very tall and hasn't quite figured out his sea legs yet. He's sort of wobbly on his big long legs and even picking his feet is interesting sometimes. He's also a really good boy with huge movement except that's not necessarily something that I enjoy. It also took me awhile to figure him out because he's just not my sports car pony. I needed to give him more time to re-balance and I struggle enough with that with my pony. With a big leggy warmblood baby it was tough not riding him into the wall.

So lucky that I got to ride this talented guy

Poor guy was extremely tolerant though and is very amateur friendly despite only having been ridden by professionals prior to my rides on him.

Riding him though and enjoying the ride made me wonder what it would be like to own a horse rather than a pony. It was fun to think about "fitting in" and it was cool to see myself riding a large horse. I think part of it is that I've had some demoralizing rides with Katai recently. The show was tough and we really haven't had a good ride since then. First she was sassy, I think because she was stiff, sore, and out, and now she's on layup while she rests and recovers. In the end I can't even imagine having a second horse and of course Katai isn't going anywhere. I just think I needed to dream a little and take a break from thinking about my recent bad rides on my mare.

Also, big baby horse is a gelding and geldings are quiet and well behaved and have fewer opinions then mares, especially mare ponies, and especially chestnut mare ponies. He was simple and, to be completely honest, that was nice after some of Katai's recent moods.

Then I went home and promptly got really sick. I spent Monday and Tuesday resting and trying to fend off a really bad cold. While I was on my own layup I logged on to Facebook again, something I rarely do anymore, and realized that I hadn't checked in on my post on the Adult Pony Owning Support Group where I had shared my show photos. The post had blown up with over 200 likes and many amazing and supportive comments. That group is so extremely supportive and the comments were extraordinarily nice and complimentary of both myself and Katai. It was nice to see and was one great reminder of why I adore my girl. My motivation increased to ride and I was starting to get excited to get back on track with her again.

Wednesday I told myself I was going to get to the barn no matter what and then had to leave work early because I suddenly got really nauseous and lightheaded and spent the rest of the evening in my bathroom throwing up. Such is life.

Then Thursday started off rough but by the afternoon I was feeling really great and so I headed to the barn to ride my girl!! It was really hot and humid so I rode in the indoor where there was some shade. She did really well, she didn't want to walk and was a little sassy about it but by the end of the ride I got some amazing transitions within the trot and canter (which are normally really tough for her) and then called it since I didn't want to push her too hard after her time off. At first I was a little frustrated with her sassing at the walk but then I realized that after a week and a half off if the only attitude I get from my horse (and mare) is that she doesn't want to walk I'm way ahead of the curve.

I was really looking forward to another day at the barn today to do some more work but then ended up getting rescheduled on with a date I was looking forward to. Unfortunately said date went very wrong and I seriously think that I'm going to spend the rest of 2016 happily single. The worst part is that I would have really LOVED to have gone to the barn but I rescheduled to fit this in and then regretted it. Sometimes it's tough to juggle things in my personal life with ponies especially since I'd like to not be single for the rest of my life. At any rate, next time I prioritize the pony.

So, it's time to get back on track. I'm feeling motivated to ride and motivated to ride my girl not some other horse. I love her, no I adore her, and a few bad rides aren't going to throw us off track. This week I'm getting back on a 5 ride schedule and we're going to make things happen, specifically the things on our list of goals ;)

Reactive: Lesson Recap 3/13

Well this was an interesting lesson. I heard ahead of time that Katai had been doing A LOT of bucking during turnout but normally if anything that means that she's quiet under saddle because she's worked off her excess energy.

Pretty accurate

When I pulled her in that seemed to be the case. Other than some head tossing in the crossties (which isn't really that unusual) she was quiet and acting normal. She was a little tender about having the saddle put on and I diagnosed that she was in heat which normally makes her a little sensitive under saddle.

I got her into the arena, tightened up her girth, went to get on and all hell broke loose. She bucked her shoulders straight up the second I was on her back, lurched back and then forward almost onto her knees as her front legs buckled. L had had her back turned for the first part of this and both of our first thoughts were to get her moving. I turned her to get her going and this time before she even took a step she flailed up and I almost thought she was going to go over backwards. Instead she jumped forward again and almost went down. At that point L was loudly telling me to get off. I wasn't even quite sure how to manage that but did a pretty good emergency dismount as L headed out of the arena for a lunge line.

As soon as I was off her back Katai got quieter and waited patiently for the lunge line. Then once on the lunge there weren't any more fireworks.

L and I talked while I lunged her and L said that Kata's face was a mix of pain and fear when she reacted like that. Her first thought was naughty pony and that I needed to cowboy her through it but then she saw Katai's face. She's pretty sure that the saddle with my weight on it put too much weight on Katai's sensitive (since she continued to show us that she was in raging heat) ovaries. We could tell as I was lunging her that her whole right hip and just in front if it were extremely tight and she wasn't using her right leg like normal. She almost seemed to be trying to swing it out instead of forward. L thinks, and I would agree, that she didn't even know what to do or what she was doing. I could tell that she was flailing her body and it almost felt like she was just trying to stay on her feet.

Poor baby :-(

After she had lunged for a while in both directions and seemed to be softening up a little L palpated her back right over her ovaries and she was quite reactive on both sides but on the right her leg would get trembly and almost buckle just with L pushing on her.

Vegan cheesecake to celebrate surviving this one

It was a scary thing. I've never felt her out of control like that and the second time it happened I honestly thought she was going to go over or down. I was shaking pretty bad after I climbed off but after talking it through with L I'm feeling better. We are having CRAZY weather this spring and the vets have been busy in our area with an unusual number of horses with colic, pneumonia, and various other illnesses since they just can't seem to figure out how to handle the crazy temperature swings. L thinks that that along with this likely being the first real heat of the season just made her abnormally sore. Her recommendation to me is to lunge for the next few days and not climb on her again until she's not sore to palpation.

This is the first time I've ever been scared of my pony and it's not a good feeling. I also feel really bad for her because I clearly hurt her and that doesn't feel good either. Hopefully in a few days she'll be good as new and this was a fluke thing that won't happen again.

Videos and #mareproblems

Here are the videos I promised! Please let me know if either of them don't work and I'll work on getting them fixed.

The first video is of our progress from June 2014 - March 2015.

http://youtu.be/HAVpg7B9K2g

The second video is of our most recent lesson. Be gentle please, I know there is a lot of room for improvement but I'm having fun :-)

http://youtu.be/_lMAIfGgHCQ

As far as mares go, I had last been out to the barn on Tuesday evening and didn't make it out on Wednesday or Thursday. Tonight when I went to catch her she seemed off but I couldn't quite tell what was going on. My first thought was that she had been standing at the roundbale for awhile and was stiff but it wasn't getting any better even after we had been walking for awhile. I noticed that her back legs were covered in mare goo, after having just cleaned it off on Tuesday, and when I looked closer I saw that she had a bunch of mare goo everywhere and was really, really chaffed between her back legs. Poor girl, no wonder she didn't want to walk :-(

I just feel like such a bad horse owner. I mean I've heard about mares having this problem but I've never had this issue with her since I keep her pretty clean. If in two days she did this to herself I just don't quite know what to do. I got her kind of cleaned up, she was in enough pain that I was worried I'd get kicked, and put a whole bunch of swat everywhere hoping that it would act as a lubricant. Tomorrow I'm going to pick up some baby wipes and baby rash ointment and hopefully finish cleaning her up and add some more ointment to help heal.

Does anyone who owns a mare, or has owned a mare, have any advice?

Mare-ish

Well, I survived the Great River Ragnar!

From Friday at around 9:00 to Saturday around 10:00 I ran 11.8 miles in three stages the first being the longest at 5.4 miles. I truly would have told you beforehand that I was going to die so I'm very pleased to not only be alive but to have really enjoyed the entire experience and not feel half bad only a couple days after. 

Pre race at 4:30am on Friday (furthest on the left)

Post race at about 6:00pm on Saturday (in the middle)

So, for pony things.

I've posted a few times before that Katai is very into the boys. In the past, however, I haven't felt her to be especially moody or cranky when she's in heat but once I started riding that changed. On the ground she is her same sweet self with slightly more separation anxiety but when I try to ride her during that time she is impossible. At first I felt it to be behavioral because when palpating her back she had no reaction and she was only slightly more tense than normal. Recently though she's been getting so, so much better that I started to question whether it was behavior or pain and now I'm convinced it's the latter.

At a walk she is perfect. Her back is loose and swinging and she stretches down into contact but at a trot she becomes so inverted that she's almost gaited. Her feet fly in something between a canter, walk, and trot and she is so tense that she feels like a piece of steel. Most of the time her trot is better and has continued to improve but in heat she is impossible to work any faster than a trot and she has been in heat for the past week! Most of the time her cycle seems to be only a few days but this one's been a doosey :(

I finally decided it was time to do something about it and I've ordered a supplement to try. I've also got her back on a magnesium supplement since that is supposed to help loosen back muscles and is calming.

I will post more about my experiment as soon as I know more :)