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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Searching For Answers
On Monday, Linda and I took a good look at Bentley to see whats "up" with him. I wanted that second set of eyes on him since its hard to run him and look back at him at the same time... I fear each time I will end up eating dirt.
So after running him straight a few times down the arena, our first answer was "yes he is still sore"
Then proceeded to lunge him in both directions. He certainly was worse on one side than the other. After a bit of time trotting, Linda thought it might be his hind left leg that's actually bothering him. I gave him a bit of a chase off the lunge line to get him to canter and he always picked up the same lead. This also suggests more soreness in the one hind in the other, as there is unequal pressure on the legs in the canter gait. Hence why we weren't seeing any lameness in the canter, he was always picking up what felt most comfortable to him.
The vet is coming in to do ultrasounds on it next Monday to give us a better idea of what we are dealing with and what sort of rehab he will need. It doesn't appear that hes so much lame as he is just sore, but the length of time its taking him to recover does cause some concern. So it will be nice to figure out whats up.
Monday we also re-fit his saddle as he keeps changing the shape of his back on me. Looks like I will have to get a different cushion. The saddle fits without cushion, but I don't think I can ride without it, so I need to go down to the slimmest cushion. Right now it does fit him, but uses a ton of shims which I would rather not use if we don't have to.
There is always something on the shopping list isn't there?
So after running him straight a few times down the arena, our first answer was "yes he is still sore"
Then proceeded to lunge him in both directions. He certainly was worse on one side than the other. After a bit of time trotting, Linda thought it might be his hind left leg that's actually bothering him. I gave him a bit of a chase off the lunge line to get him to canter and he always picked up the same lead. This also suggests more soreness in the one hind in the other, as there is unequal pressure on the legs in the canter gait. Hence why we weren't seeing any lameness in the canter, he was always picking up what felt most comfortable to him.
The vet is coming in to do ultrasounds on it next Monday to give us a better idea of what we are dealing with and what sort of rehab he will need. It doesn't appear that hes so much lame as he is just sore, but the length of time its taking him to recover does cause some concern. So it will be nice to figure out whats up.
Monday we also re-fit his saddle as he keeps changing the shape of his back on me. Looks like I will have to get a different cushion. The saddle fits without cushion, but I don't think I can ride without it, so I need to go down to the slimmest cushion. Right now it does fit him, but uses a ton of shims which I would rather not use if we don't have to.
There is always something on the shopping list isn't there?
Monday, July 16, 2012
Hot Hot weekend
The heat started out as a good thing initially. As I mentioned before, the air in my side of the building was broken. Fortunately I am stationed right outside of my boss' office, and he was equally hot... meaning he got fed up with it and we both took an early weekend! I have to say, hes great for those sort of things, I am pretty bad at leaving work or taking time off and probably would have stayed here if he didn't make me!
So I took my early day and decided to go straight to the barn. I took Bentley down to the creek with a camp chair, book, and refreshments in hand. I plunked my seat down in the creek and let him graze. He was pretty good, but got distracted a few times by the herd of horses and walked over to see if they would accept him into their club. Not the case... the tiny pony Cindy was by far the worst and charged him away.
I went home and cleaned myself up a bit while Bentley ate his dinner. The kids were planning a hoedown so I had promised to return! When I came back, everyone screamed my name with delight as I walked down the drive. Love these girls! They are always so welcoming and the whole barn has become such a family. Its quite a wonderful environment to ride in.
Saturday was the annual sale at Bahr's. I had intended on going there to get 20% off supplements and a tub of Furazone, maybe a lead rope because mine has a tendency to disappear. Including those, I also found myself leaving with a pair of $200 dress boots. I had recently taken my aukens in to get quoted on the zippers replaced and had been quoted $120. Yikes! I wasn't going to spend that much on a pair of boots that were $160 new. So although $200 seemed like a lot for someone who only intends on only doing "some" eventing, I reasoned that it was not much more than fixing the ones I already had. Plus, these boots were incredibly beautiful, well made and soft, and lots of foot support, clearly they had to be almost half off! They surely felt like they were made custom for me. I have big feet and small ankles then big calves again (we call these endurance or dressage calves haha), so I have a difficult time finding fit for ANY boots. So I forked over the $200, and on the way home, I was curious enough as to what the new price was on these. Here's what I got: http://www.bahrsaddlery.com/ariat-monaco-field-boot-with-zip.html
Ok I feel a little better about forking over seemingly big cash :)
After that, it was off to Flesherton for Linda to ride in the CTR, I was going as pit crew. Both days were so stinking hot, I was dunking my shirt in the water trough hourly to try and cool myself even a little bit. Luckily i had also brought freezies, so that helped me a little! Things went pretty smooth for us, Linda came in off each loop smiling, Sable aka I'm No Angel is becoming the opposite of her name. It sounded like the terrain was really tough. Those who were in the open category had an away vet check and hold, so it was pretty quiet for us back at the site.
It sounded like there were lots of pulls for lots of reasons but I am not too sure of the exact stats yet.
Linda placed first despite a few points taken off for a girth sore and some scrapes on the inside of her front legs. We think this may be interference from the easyboots as she isn't used to wearing them quite yet. Oh and did I mention? Linda lost one boot in the creek on the first loop and was able to dig it up on the second! Wonderful not to lose one of those!
We stuck around for the awards, and our group did very well indeed! It seemed like everyone who won were close friends of ours, the usual suspects who spend the evenings around our table. Or maybe that's more a sign that we are very quickly becoming friends with everyone in the sport, which is just as wonderful!
So I took my early day and decided to go straight to the barn. I took Bentley down to the creek with a camp chair, book, and refreshments in hand. I plunked my seat down in the creek and let him graze. He was pretty good, but got distracted a few times by the herd of horses and walked over to see if they would accept him into their club. Not the case... the tiny pony Cindy was by far the worst and charged him away.
I went home and cleaned myself up a bit while Bentley ate his dinner. The kids were planning a hoedown so I had promised to return! When I came back, everyone screamed my name with delight as I walked down the drive. Love these girls! They are always so welcoming and the whole barn has become such a family. Its quite a wonderful environment to ride in.
Saturday was the annual sale at Bahr's. I had intended on going there to get 20% off supplements and a tub of Furazone, maybe a lead rope because mine has a tendency to disappear. Including those, I also found myself leaving with a pair of $200 dress boots. I had recently taken my aukens in to get quoted on the zippers replaced and had been quoted $120. Yikes! I wasn't going to spend that much on a pair of boots that were $160 new. So although $200 seemed like a lot for someone who only intends on only doing "some" eventing, I reasoned that it was not much more than fixing the ones I already had. Plus, these boots were incredibly beautiful, well made and soft, and lots of foot support, clearly they had to be almost half off! They surely felt like they were made custom for me. I have big feet and small ankles then big calves again (we call these endurance or dressage calves haha), so I have a difficult time finding fit for ANY boots. So I forked over the $200, and on the way home, I was curious enough as to what the new price was on these. Here's what I got: http://www.bahrsaddlery.com/ariat-monaco-field-boot-with-zip.html
Ok I feel a little better about forking over seemingly big cash :)
After that, it was off to Flesherton for Linda to ride in the CTR, I was going as pit crew. Both days were so stinking hot, I was dunking my shirt in the water trough hourly to try and cool myself even a little bit. Luckily i had also brought freezies, so that helped me a little! Things went pretty smooth for us, Linda came in off each loop smiling, Sable aka I'm No Angel is becoming the opposite of her name. It sounded like the terrain was really tough. Those who were in the open category had an away vet check and hold, so it was pretty quiet for us back at the site.
It sounded like there were lots of pulls for lots of reasons but I am not too sure of the exact stats yet.
Linda placed first despite a few points taken off for a girth sore and some scrapes on the inside of her front legs. We think this may be interference from the easyboots as she isn't used to wearing them quite yet. Oh and did I mention? Linda lost one boot in the creek on the first loop and was able to dig it up on the second! Wonderful not to lose one of those!
We stuck around for the awards, and our group did very well indeed! It seemed like everyone who won were close friends of ours, the usual suspects who spend the evenings around our table. Or maybe that's more a sign that we are very quickly becoming friends with everyone in the sport, which is just as wonderful!
Friday, July 13, 2012
Friday the 13th
Its Friday the 13th and my misfortune seems to be coming in the form of technology problems.
The air conditioning at my side of the building is not working on a day with an extreme heat alert, which is particularly rough because its 1) the south side of the building and gets a ton of sun and 2) almost entirely windows, which makes me cook like a greenhouse. Makes me think back to when I had a beta fish and put him in the window because it just looked so pretty! Then the poor little thing just got too hot and didn't make it.
Oh and also, ALL the printers are broken in the office. Literally jamming after every other page.
Normally I don't believe in the 13th, but the heat is impairing my normal good sense.
The air conditioning at my side of the building is not working on a day with an extreme heat alert, which is particularly rough because its 1) the south side of the building and gets a ton of sun and 2) almost entirely windows, which makes me cook like a greenhouse. Makes me think back to when I had a beta fish and put him in the window because it just looked so pretty! Then the poor little thing just got too hot and didn't make it.
Oh and also, ALL the printers are broken in the office. Literally jamming after every other page.
Normally I don't believe in the 13th, but the heat is impairing my normal good sense.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Finally!
Finally someone from the general public gets it right:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-sport-hardest-fourth-place-medal-ranks-32-195706044--oly.html
Sick and tired of people saying "the horse does all the work" or "Oh ya, I am a rider too" (aka I got on a horse once on the beach at cuba and i went all the way to the other side of the beach)
Can't wait for the olympics to begin.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-sport-hardest-fourth-place-medal-ranks-32-195706044--oly.html
Sick and tired of people saying "the horse does all the work" or "Oh ya, I am a rider too" (aka I got on a horse once on the beach at cuba and i went all the way to the other side of the beach)
Can't wait for the olympics to begin.
Photos and video from Schooling SHow
Heather and Bentley ready to warmup.
After the walk-trot class, Bentley standing nicely... for about 5 seconds!
Thats enough standing nicely, I see something interesting and want to party! - Bentley before he fullpassed nearly the entire ring.
Oh boy, he sure is getting excited here! I am on board now
Look how happy he looks to have been able to show off his `stuff``
Waiting for our next round.
Discovering the leaves are much tastier than the grass.
Heather in the walk-trot class. He gets a little excited by her forward riding and starts cantering, but settles in nicely. Still learning how to hold his frame and Heather is learning to keep her hands steadier.
More of Heather in walk trot class, still a little unsure if hes a bit sore here or just trying to get the bit and hold it (heathers hands arent as steady as he is used to) or maybe a bit of both. He stops very nicely!
Other direction of walk trot class. He has a very nice trot along the far side of the ring and holds frame almost consistently! The pair certainly improved as they went along.
Sarah in the first jumping class, 5 jumps hunter. This is the start of when we noticed the `Bob` Hes so darn excited to jump, took it a BIT too fast (meaning wayy too fast) haha.
Sarah in the 2nd jumping class, 8 jumps hunter. You can see in the trot here hes starting to bob a bit more. It wasnt easy keeping him straight down the lines, we had very little practice or even training for jumping, so I was happy with him and cant blame him for the excitement.
Photos from Cayuse Canter
Finally got around to this.
Sable looks all pretty and ready to go for tomorrow (ride day 1)
Our Friday night dinner.
Sun setting on the vetting area Friday night.
I'm No Angel and Angel ready to hit the trail.
Solstice riding Angel.
Linda on I'm No Angel (Sable)
And theyyyy're off!
Kind of a cool shot of the action at vetting area from my cool quiet spot in the shade.
I was bored while Sable was grazing so I added a new sport to OCTRAs portfolio - Horse Decorating
Sable practically falls asleep in her food bucket after day 2 (and total of 56 miles)
Perfect background for such a pretty lady!
Jess celebrates her completion.
Oh hi there! Are you here to give me treats?
Monty enjoying his watermelon.
Sable would you like watermelon? - Sarah
Hmmm, this looks more like people food than horse food, thanks for the offer but I will pass. - Sable
Earl napping on his fence.
Earl DID take a bite from the watermelon. I dont think he was convinced it was better than carrots though.
Jess and Monty sharing a bite.
Back at home, Sable enjoys the grazing paddock.
The best grass is at the bottom of the hill.
Or maybe its at the top.
Bentley also gets let out to graze and for grain dinner.
He must have been shaking or something, I love his mane here haha.
Nom Nom Nom!
So photogenic.
Theres a cute look!
"Is your food better than mine? Lets switch!"
Crisper napping on the straw bale.
Oh did I wake you?
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