Week Recap

Monday started with plenty of motivation as Thunder and I looked forward to our first show of the year - Easter Festival at Kyalami Park. We started with riding through all the movements of Medium 3 on Monday morning while waiting for the horse chiro to arrive. The test seemed long and scary when I read through it, but there was actually nothing in it that we haven't done a thousand times before. The newest movement was the canter to halt at the beginning, which he cottoned onto really quickly and offered after only a couple of attempts.

The hardest part was the counter canter to flying change. Thunder loves his changes and anticipated them quickly, so I had to really ride that counter canter until he got the message that we need to wait for the letter like a good boy.

I took zero chiro pictures so have Azai and the ball he destroyed

I was untacking him when the chiro arrived and she got right to work on the big boy. There was nothing major, just a restriction in his right hip, and she loved him as always.

We did a bunch of other horsies in the yard, including a few liveries, Sahara the schoolie, and then Arwen and Faith. Arwen felt good to me but I was concerned about her saggy back after having Wynnie. There was a tightness at T14, where her thoracic sling meets her pelvic sling, and her back looked noticeably different once chiro fixed it. She gave me some belly lifting exercises to do to help for that, too.

have sleepy Noah toebeans to break up the wall of text

Faith had been mildly unsound since HOY with that soreness behind on hard ground and I wanted chiro to have a look before we went down the X-rays route. Turns out she had a sprain in a large muscle in her butt (I forget which), likely one that occurred when she foaled Lassie. It healed to the point where she was sound as we brought her back to work but was reinjured as we increased her workload before HOY. Chiro was able to release a lot of the spasms surrounding the sprain and she has been noticeably better since. She does tire and go a little sore later on in a session, but she's sound as a bell to start with, which is much better than what we had before she saw the chiro.

Before chiro left, I also asked her to check old lady Skye over, and the news was good. Of course the old girl's knees are very arthritic but there was no sign of spasms or anything causing her undue pain. She has a tightness in the fascia of her left neck from an old abscess which I can currycomb to help release it a bit, but it's no big deal.

surveying her domain

A couple of the horses needed some time off after their appointments, so Arwen played stand-in schoolie that afternoon, a role at which she is impeccable. A bit of jumping isn't bad for her chonkiness either. I rode Lancey after lessons and he was hard to ride - really against my hand even in the working gaits and trying very hard to run above the bit even in trot. I had my work cut out for me, but we did improve towards the end, even if we didn't get to play with any movements and just went walk/trot/canter on a circle for the entire session. I love my Lancey, he is the most magical unicorn ever, but this issue can be unbelievably frustrating and there doesn't appear to be a physical root. It's just a training thing. It's gotten so much better, but relapses like this one can feel very disheartening.

still my sunset unicorn

Tuesday morning was fun and a little chaotic. We were out and about bright and early for Faith and K's photo shoot and to take some sale pictures of precious Ladybug. I'll post more of them later, but suffice it to say that it was much harder to get the six-year-old warmblood standing up to her eyeballs in flowers to prick her ears. She was more intent on eating flowers than anything else. I handled her the whole time, and nervous though I am, I never felt like I was going to get trampled, kicked, squashed or reared on. In fact, I don't think I ever actually had to pull the lead rein except to get her to stop eating and pick up her head. Someone is going to have a real gem in this mare and if I didn't already have Wynnie, it would probably have been me. Also, Ladybug wants a jumping and hacking home - she thinks the sandbox is pretty lame.

K and Faith had a fabulous time and were unbelievably photogenic, even if Faith was feeling a little spicy and very good after her adjustment and threw a few bucks here and there. I'm so grateful that Faith has found a rider who loves her for who she is. They're fantastic together and they have a genuine, loving bond that makes me so, so happy.

The rest of the day was a little chaotic, with a bunch of lessons and a ton of writing on my plate. I only got to Thunder late that afternoon between lessons. The chiro had recommended a stretchy ride for him. We kept it short, but he seemed a little more willing to stretch than before, and gave me some really nice loose serpentines and so on in trot. The canter right was loose and stretchy; canter left started out quite well but he wasn't able to hold it for very long. Canter left is usually his stronger side, so that was quite interesting.

I also rode Arwen for like 15 minutes when I had a tiny gap. We didn't really work on anything in particular with such a short time frame, but we squeezed in walk/trot/canter with some counter canter to remind her that it exists even though we're working on the changes. She was willing as ever, but still resistant to the right at times. I think she just needs to realize that she can bend right more easily since the chiro visit and doesn't need to fight me.

Wednesday was weirdly chaotic, for a Wednesday, but we started with a fairly solid ride on Thunder, going through Medium 3 again. I had reached the point I always do before a show where I have convinced myself that this is the hardest test ever and we are totally unprepared, so I pulled my signature move, which is to wildly override every single movement. Thunder called me out sharply on that nonsense by bucking through the changes, kicking at my leg and running through my overapplied aids. It's not that they're sharp or harsh, it's just that I try to give all of them, all at once. So we rode through Medium 3 and I thought it was a complete train wreck. (On the video later, it was fine - there was one late change and that was it). Then we took a walk break and I took big breaths and thanked him for pointing out my issues, and we rode it again, effortlessly. Thanks, bro.

calling mom out since 2012

There was another heart-melting milestone that morning when E2 got on Vortex, the livery who arrived in January, so lame and so thin and so poorly that I was honestly quite worried he just wouldn't stay alive, let alone ever go sound again. His owners poured a fortune into him even though no one expected we'd ever be able to sit on him again. He had mud fever up to his knees on all four legs, inflamed tendons in all four legs, and the beginnings of support limb laminitis behind from trying to keep the weight off his excruciatingly painful forelegs. I truly hoped we could make him a pasture pet, and even that seemed like a stretch.

Three months later, Vortex still needs a lot of weight, but he's shiny, healthy, gambolling around in the field like a foal, and sound as a brass bell on the lunge. So we put E2 on and he proved to be a total delight. Sound in walk/trot/canter for a short little ride, not spooky in the slightest, and responsive and easy to all the aids. It didn't take him long to find a delightful new adoptive home.

Thursday morning was our last ride before the show - Thunderbirdy prefers a day off the day before a show so that we have full batteries on the day of - and this time it was Thunder who needed to be called out on his nonsense. He did the bare minimum when asked and was sluggish laterally off my leg. We started riding the test and he gave me some very bored half-passes and late behind changes, so we went and did some turn on the forehand and leg-yields to remind him that my leg certainly does mean something, sir. With that sorted out, we rode the test twice very easily, with no major mistakes. I rushed the walk pirouettes the first time, but they were better the second time, and both of us were very chuffed with ourselves by the time we were done.

DH spent the entire afternoon building our new wash bay, which is now nearly finished. We're working on lots of small improvements to the stableyard, which is in dire need of some much-needed TLC after we built everything as cheaply as possible about five or six years ago. We did the best we could with what we had, but now we can do a little better.

On Thursday afternoon, Spirit's smallest kiddo tried Ladybug, with the view to perhaps getting her as a future junior horse. She is a tiny kiddo and fairly beginner so we kept things very simple, with E2 first showing Ladybug off and then helping kiddo with her in the lunge ring, but she didn't put a foot wrong.

I was tired by the end of Thursday and decidedly not in the mood for riding, but Arwen and Lancey had both been neglected all week, so after lessons I began to summon my motivation only to be surprised when kiddo and her parents surprised me with the cutest sunflower numnah, ears and brushing boots. It was out of the blue and just unbelievably sweet. I'd had a tough week with clients and honestly it meant a lot more to me than they could possibly have known. So of course Lancey immediately got saddled up with his new stuff.

He was a lot better for his ride, still wanting to argue occasionally, but I remembered what J said about his arguing being about my leg instead of my hand and worked to push the little dude to the bridle instead of pulling him into a frame. We didn't have the longest ride but it was much more solid.

On Friday morning, Shaila's kid enjoyed a last ride before the show (she was doing Novice 3 and 4), and then I enjoyed giving Thunder a bath in the new wash bay. He was impeccable in the cross ties, of course, although I just washed his mane, tail and socks because it was unseasonably cold and overcast.

Lancey also went for a very quick hack. Even though it was less than twenty minutes, it was still good to get out and have a little canter and then a nice loose rein walk. I'm trying to be better about squeezing the rides in on Lancey and Arwen even if they end up being short; a little bit is better than nothing. He was super well behaved and lovely, and felt quite spicy and excited to be out, but not pulling or doing anything silly.

Friday afternoon, after a couple of lessons, I got Arwen all dressed up in her blue outfit (I'm sorry, I'm a DQ, matchy matchy soothes me) and we had an absolutely fabulous ride. She was fresh and very stroppy at first, bouncing and breaking to canter while I was asking for walk half-pass, but then cottoned on that she has a much smoother right bend since her chiro visit. Once we had tamed the dragon a bit, this resulted in the best half-pass in trot and canter I've ever ridden on her.

We finished up with a couple of changes. They are boisterous and bouncy, but she absolutely knows what she's supposed to do, she's just still working out how to do it in one stride. We did two on each side, and most were a stride late in front, but the last one was perfectly clean and resulted in many pats and cuddles and kisses for a very clever dragon.

I haven't been able to clip her yet - last week was just too cold to bath a woolly fluffdragon - but she is getting a bit desperate for it. I really can't wash her down in the evenings anymore but she gets unbelievably sweaty. So hopefully this week the weather will give us a gap; it's school holidays and we have some more time than usual.

DH surprised me on Friday evening with my stirrups looking absolutely brand spanking new. I had made a bid at painting them (after he cleaned them for me) and buggered it up that morning, but he fixed them and made them beautiful that afternoon. Glitter purple stirrups had to be a good sign. I was excited for the show on Saturday.

God is good.