Bodywork for All

 Even with the kiddos returning to lessons after the school holiday, I have finally gotten something of a handle on fitting farm management into my day-to-day and so we have hit our stride in a more normal routine again. This meant lots of work for the two greys, which inevitably led to some bodywork being required.

It started on Wednesday last week when I was grooming the Lanceycorn and he flinched when I was brushing his back. I checked and found he was pretty sore right behind his withers. We've been working quite hard this winter - lots of climbing hills and working on straighter, more collected canter work and mediums - and I dithered about giving him time off until he could see a bodyworker or keeping him in motion. I opted to keep riding and see if it improved or got worse, and with a lot of long and low stretchy work, the tenderness was better but not gone.

hacking a very spicy Stardust, who is at last sound and back to work after her abscess ordeal last year, in lieu of lame Lancey

I checked in with a physio/massage lady who could come out this week and she said to keep him moving and stretching until she visited, but this backfired when he argued with Sahara and kicked the stable wall, bruising his left hind. It was really mild but he was a bit lame at first so he had several days off while we waited for the physio.

Meanwhile, Arwen was working really well on the whole, but I could tell she needed some work on her hind end. She had one day a couple weeks ago where her rein-backs broke halfway through the ride. She's always struggled a bit with them, which worsened after the birth of Wynnie and the subsequent sagging of the dragonbelly, but that day she did them nicely and then flatly refused to do them at all. Refusing outright isn't like her so I backed off and we just touched on them the next day, where she did them but begrudgingly.

why yes that is a matchy new browband

She also had a few moments where she wanted to rear or kick out at my right leg - Lancey uncharacteristically did this a couple times too, so I'm certain my own body is funky as well. While she absolutely understands the changes mentally (it didn't take long), she also had some difficulty changing left to right, leaping through them in a way that felt like she was struggling to get her right hind underneath her. Most horses would simply change in front and go disunited, but not the dancing dragon. Oh no. Increased airtime was absolutely her solution to this problem.

On Monday, we rode in the double. I've been alternating the snaffle and the double lately - she's okay in the snaffle for a ride or two, then goes back to pulling like an absolute freaking train - and it works really well. It keeps me honest about the connection but also prevents my arms from being pulled out of their sockets. (Dragons gonna dragon). We played with the idea of the pirouettes, which I have no idea if we have any right to be doing, but she sat down and lifted really well to the left. The right was a bit more messy, but she gets the idea. We finished by taking E2 and Leia for a hack, for which Arwen was absolutely impeccable. For once.

a behaving dragon

Lancey's leg looked fine, but I gave him an extra day off to be safe and just replaited his mane instead of riding. I did Wynnie's mane too, including asking a bit more than usual of her by tying her next to the tack room and plaiting her there while Lancey went inside to the stable. She was concerned about this at first and remained quite wiggly throughout, but respected my space in the end and settled considerably when she realized that standing quietly resulted in treats. We also measured Wynnie for the first time in ages and discovered that she's just shy of 14.1hh at 18 months. Considering that Arwen and Dakota are both 14.3, I'm guessing she might turn out a little bit bigger. Erin holds firm she's going to leave hony territory behind but I cling to my hope that she'll be 15.1 at the biggest.

Tuesday morning I lunged Arwen in the Pessoa real quick so that we could fit in a workout before Lancey's physio came. She's surprisingly pleasant to lunge and keeps most of the chaotic good under wraps, although on this day she wanted to fall in to the right, which had become a thing under saddle lately too.

The physio lady was met with an absolutely disgusting grubby Lancey, which unfortunately is the Lancey we have this winter as my clippers died a tragic death after a decade of faithful service. We took him to the barn to take thermal pictures, which was cool to see. He was a bit hotter on one side than the other, and there was some heat over his lower back, but otherwise he looked fine.

I've never been given a more detailed and thorough report than from this bodyworker - hugely recommended

Wynnie lost her marbles in the paddock because Lancey was out of sight, but to his credit he didn't get stressed or wiggly. He answered a few times when she called him, but didn't call to her first. Before long, he was enjoying a lovely massage, especially on his lower back and bum. The physio didn't find any restrictions or particular problems - she said he was just muscle sore from working harder than normal and building strength. After the massage, his back wasn't tender at all anymore. She also showed me some massages and stretches I could do to help him as he builds strength for the more collected work.

Finally, Lancey got his butt taped with kinesiology tape. It stayed on surprisingly well for how dirty he was, but I had to pull it off on Wesdnesday afternoon because it had started to come loose.

Both ponies had Wednesday off because we drove halfway across Mpumalanga to go and see a traumatized Appaloosa who is coming to visit in the spring for E2 and I to try and help him. He was interesting to work with and so kind. I admit that, now that I'm not the one who actually has to get on, I look forward to working with a remedial one again. We haven't had one in ages.

Before we went to meet Trauma Appy, though, the chiro visited Arwen. He found restriction in her left bum and correspondingly in her right neck, so she got acupuncture and adjustments. Nothing was major or injury-related, just normal maintenance, so he left us with instructions to do a stretchy ride on Thursday and then normal work on Friday.

she was only moderately incorrigible for this visit

Thursday rolled around unusually overcast and blisteringly cold with a howling wind, but with strict instructions from the physio and chiro not to let the horses stand around and get stiff, I saddled Lancey up with freezy fingers and tried for a ride. He was a little spooky and spicy, only to be expected for someone who'd had a week off and was being ridden in that weather, but felt really good. The bodywork had clearly left him feeling loose and powerful, so we had a good time and he was lovely in the bridle for the first half-hour or so, only getting a bit fussy toward the end.

This thing of his with throwing his head on occasion has been a thorn in our sides ever since I bought him (which was... four years ago?) and it's such a hard one to figure out. Nobody can find a physical cause, but I have this nagging feeling that surely if it was purely a training issue, it would have resolved by now. It's better, but still remains the focus of most of our sessions. I've occasionally gotten myself into the trap of forgetting about his back end (which, obviously, doesn't help at all), but even with the rest of his body in order, he's always looking for a way out of the contact. It's been tempting to give up on dressage altogether but he can be so, so good and so, so enjoys attention, so we'll keep searching for ways to finally get rid of the issue.

always wanted a halter like this as a kid lol

By the time I was done with lessons that afternoon, it was absolutely frigid and I couldn't bring myself to do much more than pull Arwen's snaffle bridle on and walk around in the arena for fifteen minutes. She was really well behaved, to her credit, despite the weather.

Friday was a fabulous day. Arwen gave me the time of my life that morning despite another windy, overcast day. We test rode most of Medium 3 and she felt incredible in the bridle - soft and easy and more supple than usual. Her trot work was all totally solid, and most of the canter work was good, although I didn't set her up well for the first change left to right which made the change immediately after that a bit dodgy as well. Still, we would have gotten through it at a show, which was great.

The Lanceycorn was slightly less great on Friday afternoon than he had been on Thursday, but not dreadful. I dialed our half-passes back to the long diagonal instead of the short diagonal to work on the impulsion and correctness and he gave me some really, really good ones in trot. We've pushed pause on the canter lateral work and changes again (sigh) because of the connection and straightness issues, but hopefully we'll get back to that really soon.

A good and busy week for the greys while Thunder continued to enjoy big boy school. More on that next week!

God is good.

Resne Winter Fun Show 2023

With Wynnie's bill and Thunder still at boarding school, the budget for showing is not exactly in full force this winter. As a result, when the yard down the road announced that they were having a fun show last weekend, I was all for it.

indeed there are tiny yellow butterflies in his mane

I used to run this yard - it's where Lancey was born - and the new manager, S, is a kind, friendly coach who also believes in a bit more than winning rosettes, so we've always seen eye to eye. She runs low-key, super-fun local shows with a variety of classes to enter. They're chill and informal, usually well-attended enough to be enjoyable, and have a friendly, relaxed vibe that makes them perfect for kiddos' first show or to help them decompress after the hard work and pressure of the SANESA season. What's more, the entry fees are really inexpensive, which made this one accessible for me and also generally means less pressure for the kids.

Thus it was that at 7:30 on Saturday morning, with the whole world glittering white with frost and the sun barely up, I rode out of the farm with Lancey and five kiddos in tow. Three were competent teens and tweens, but I had one tiny tot and one nervous one, who was on Flashy and being ponied. Tiny tot was on Spirit, who was, as usual, totally in command of the situation.

I sent the two teens up ahead on Sahara and Midas so that I didn't have to deal with any hesitance from Lancey while ponying, and we set off cheerfully with DH leading the way in the car to prevent any psychos from driving into us. It's a quiet farm road, but you never know. Spirit followed Lancey, and K and Arwen brought up the rear.

Of course, we had picked the same weekend to go to a fun show that our other neighbours had picked to hold a shooting competition, so DH went ahead to ask the shooters to stop while the ponies went past. They graciously allowed us ten minutes to get by, so, ignoring the protests of the poor nervous child (backed up by a rather rotund Flashy), I shoved us all into a trot and hurried on past. None of the horses put a single foot wrong. Lancey got mildly excited at one point but not so much that I couldn't bring him back to a trot with one hand.

Once we left the road and set off across our host's hayfields, Lancey got a little spicy. Nothing silly, but he jogged which I hated, so I pulled, so he pulled. Flash and his kid compounded the situation by trailing miles behind despite my instructions and doing their best to wrench my free arm from its socket while the other wrestled with Lancey. We were a little frustrated with one another, but after a while I, the dressage rider, realized that my seat existed and used that to slow him down at which point he begrudgingly accepted a nice quiet walk on a loose rein. Amazing how that works.

We got to Resne nicely warmed up and hacked up the hill with more than enough time to unsaddle everybody and turn most of them out in the paddock we'd booked for the day. For most of the morning, I helped kiddos with their jumping rounds. Regrettably, I, too, had a jumping round to contend with. Spirit's kiddo had entered the team jumping only for her teammate to pull out at the last second, and I, unable to bear kiddo's disappointment, volunteered to stand in.

his mane is perfection (and yes he had poo stains)

I was beginning to regret my life choices as kiddo and I dressed our ponies in matching outfits and covered their manes with yellow butterflies. (For clarity, there was nothing whatsoever regrettable about the outfits or the butterflies - they were amazing and deeply satisfactory to my inner child). The team jumping consisted of one round per rider. The clock started when the first rider went through the start and stopped when the second rider went through the finish. Now kiddo is a perfectionist and a little competitive so I felt that Auntie Firn couldn't go trit-trotting around the course the way I so desperately would have liked to, even though the jumps were literally cavaletti-sized.

Thus, when it was my turn to go, I put on my big girl pants, grabbed the neck strap and let Lancey at it and the little dude remembered his showjumper days, threw his tail in the air and proceeded to run away with me for the first four fences. At this point, the course got twisty and my nerve failed me, so I reeled him back in with whimpers of protest and we completed the teeny jumps in a collected canter. At least this meant that we could make voltes from one jump to the next so I cantered over the finish like yelling at kiddo to go and feeling like I had not let her down.

kiddo in the background learning bad habits from Auntie Firn's exceedingly rusty jumping skills

Kiddo cantered through the first two fences with her reins as long as washing lines, failed to communicate which way they were going, and promptly fell off Spirit when pony went one way and kiddo went the other. The judge kindly stopped the clock while I scooped her up, dusted her off, checked her over for major injuries and threw her back on the pony. The clock promptly restarted and kiddo proceeded to pop around neatly, albeit a little tearfully, although her smile returned by the end. We got a first place ribbon and some bruises to show off at school.

photo credit to riding school mom, unnamed for privacy

The other kiddos thoroughly enjoyed their team jumping, except for poor old K, who found Arwen a bit overwhelmed by the fences and had several stops. In Arwen's defence, she's very much in a dressage bod right now. She redeemed herself in the barrel racing, where my adult rider won the class and the respect of her two daughters (also riders). Arwen and K were a close second, so close that K indignantly enquired if it had been hand timed. We then proceeded to the pleasure horse classes.

Flashy and his kid won the younger class in fine style. Lancey and I competed against Flashy and his unfortunate older kid, who came second to Lancey, who was a superstar. I still had his martingale on from the hacking and jumping, which only seemed to make him more fussy, but we trotted around and had a good time anyway.

The final class of the day was the most fun of them all. It's termed strictly come showing, but it's more free than that - more a costumed ride to music. Flashy's kid dressed up as Zorro, compete with cape and cloak; Arwen and K were flowers, and Lancey and I were angels. Our tune was "Through Heaven's Eyes" and we had an utter blast. I thought we had it in the bag, but then Midas' kid had a freestyle that involved flat-out galloping bareback with no hands (which was not in the sedate routine I had planned for her, but I couldn't even be mad because she was wearing a helmet), so she won.

that's some of the cloth we used to avoid our guests getting scratchy butts from the straw bales we used for seating at the wedding, in case you were wondering

At after 4pm, we headed back with six thoroughly tired ponies and equally tired riders. Despite the many drivers hustling home from the shooting competition (of which most were courteous and those who tried to be uncourteous were forced to slow down by hubby), our horses all plodded home quietly on a loose rein. Even when one driver hooted several times just a few metres away from us in greeting, only Arwen dragonleaped; the rest didn't even raise their heads.

ever-faithful hubby in the background, taking video

It was a long, exhausting, silly and perfect day.

God is good.