A cosmic joke, or what?

I'll start this off by saying that I love, love, love to plan. Nothing makes me happier than a well laid out plan put into action. So yesterday I had planned my day out perfectly so that I could hack Poncho, ride Midnite, and do the hay all before dark. It was raining/icing in the morning but was supposed to be over by noon. I left the house right on schedule and got to the barn at a perfect 2:50.

After I got there I got all my stuff out and organized. Grabbed my halter and headed to go out and get ponykins. As I was walking a little bit of ice hit me in the face. Hmmm.....Then it started to just come down! So my plan went to complete HELL. There's no indoor and I don't have a waterproof quartersheet, or a quartersheet at all for that matter. Needless to say I had to ditch the plan to ride. Fine I suppose we're not in a super big rush or anything.

So I start soaking the hay. Wait the 10 minutes. Fill up the hay nets. Then the ice spontaneously stops. Of course! By that point I was drenched because I didn't have any of my rain clothing with me. The whole way home I was fussing at myself for not just waiting a few more minutes to see if it would stop. GO FIGURE! 

Some improvement!

I'll take it! Yesterday I managed to squeeze in another ride with the hackamore. Due to even more rain the fields were completely swamped so I rode in the yucky ring. He probably wasn't too pleased about that - but complied well enough.

He was much better in the hackamore today. We really concentrated on driving power from behind so that he wasn't focusing on the weird feeling of no bit. It seemed to really make a difference. The trot work was dramatically better he was lowering his head and "softening". I got gusty and tried cantering with it. It didn't go too bad. I was extremely surprised actually. And tracking right we even got a few strides on the correct lead. I didn't want to push it and ruin the progress so I ended it there.

Today I was so, so, so unbelievably tired! I didn't even try to ride. I could barely stay awake driving to the barn. I can't imagine if I came home first to let out Bogart and grab my stuff. I would have just died! (Since I HAVE to go out everyday to do hay.)

Hackamore, was it a raging success?

Ultimately riding in the hackamore was quite different from when we used it last year. And last year we used it for several months straight. I guess since he's been accepting the bit so fabulously here lately he was a tad confused. Not bad by any means though.

Friday we rode in the ring just walk and trot to get him used to it again. He was a bit resistant and kept diving behind the vertical (while I had no contact).

Yesterday I just hacked around the field basically on the buckle to help get him to loosen and stretch out some. That seemed to help some. Tomorrow hopefully he will be even better.

We'll pick up where I left off.

Saturday was even windier than Friday was so I kept to the ring just in case he had another meltdown. Thankfully he did not. I must say though we had a lovely ride. I never attempted the right lead canter just because I didn't want to ruin it. We had some a-m-a-z-i-n-g trot work, just to die for! He was quite lazy at first with the canter but after I grabbed a whip he was more willing to co-operate. His lateral work was superb. He wasn't overly spooky, he even held it together enough for me to do some no-stirrup work.

Sunday he had off because of a meeting at work, although I still went out there (I am now having to go out and soak his hay EVERYDAY) to see him. Monday he had off to0 (I like giving him Mondays off).

Tuesday we just hacked out in the field. It was less than stellar he was a bit obstinate about stepping in mud. Apparently he's too good for that. Goober. He was a bit resistant to the contact too. I just chalked it up to an unmotivated day.

Wednesday it was raining and kept picking up the longer I was there. Since the temps. were dropping I figured I'd be nice and give him a break. So I kind of fell apart on the 5 days a week for sure. Ohwell.

Yesterday it was goopy so I went to the ring. His teeth are definitely bothering him it was no fluke on Tuesday. He did not want accept the right rein for anything. Anytime I took a feel of his mouth instant brace. So I'll be putting his hackamore on him today. Anywho we had a great left canter again. To the right I could not get it at ALL. His teeth, his feet, or both could be contributing I don't know at this point. However we can start ruling them out soon, in 2 weeks he gets his teeth done and then the following his feet. Hurray!

Dare I say?

I think we're going to hit 5 workouts this week! Oh my word!!!!! I already wrote about Sunday so onto Tuesday...

Tuesday we headed to the ring with high hopes of some exceptional canter work. I wish I could say that happened. Canter we did, but it wasn't all to great. Tracking right he's steadily improving. However tracking left he's stuck. It's not 100% his fault though. Since I haven't been able to afford his shoes he's been barefoot and he's starting to wear his LF unevenly. Boo. So that's causing him to not want to pick up that left lead towards the end of his trim cycle. Luckily I will have the money to put shoes back on next month! His trot work on the other hand is steadily improving. I'm even starting to get some nice shoulder in's at the trot now. SCORE.

Wednesday he got his toes done so I just hacked him around the field for a little while.

Thursday he had off. Today it was insanely wet so I went to the ring. Ponchers had a melt down at the mounting block for whatever reason and I couldn't get him near it again. So I got on in the middle of the ring. There were puddles everywhere and it was starting to get gusty. Poncho was ready to explode at any minute so I just kept it light and had a nice w/t ride. His teeth really need to be done, I have an appointment for the end of the month though. I just wish I could have gotten it sooner (they were all booked up :(!)

We're getting there I think?

The weather has been a bit more compliant here lately. Kind of. The footing still sucks but I'm trying to make it work. Last Tuesday I went for a quick ride in the ring. It was still sloppy but not too bad, only one big puddle. So we attempted to get some work done. I kept it real quick and to the point since he's still working out the kinks from his hay issues. We did have an almost cough but he stopped before he started and just took several HARD breaths. Then he went on like it never happened. So that was improvement.

Wednesday it was beyond windy and some mega amounts of rain were heading our way so I decided not to push my luck like I usually do. So Thursday it was still gusting over 25 mph BUT I was determined to do something. I got called out of work and after having a mini-panic attack about not being able to afford anything this month I got my act together to ride. I still just went to the ring just in case he went nuts I didn't want to be completely loose. He did have one cough and then that was it! He managed to keep his cool even in spite of the wind and gave me some real solid trot work!

Today I just hacked around the field concentrating on our lateral work - I wanted to go out on the trail. But once I got out there it was still underwater so we turned back. Better luck next week.

I've just been keeping it real easy on him just to make sure his cough really is improving. Since there was no coughing at all today I'll probably start adding a little bit of canter work back into his workouts tomorrow or Tuesday. Yippe!

Dirty pony!!!!!!!