Goals for 2013

I know that setting goals should be a positive time, looking foreword to the future, and for us horse people, show season!  However last year at this time I was in a much different situation than I am now.  I had just brought Lucas home from my old bosses training barn where he was to be sold, thinking that we could give "us" another chance.  Even reading though the old posts, its hard to see where it went wrong, it just wasn't right for either of us.

His new owner loves and appreciates him.  And in the end that's what matters now.  I'm happy riding Oscar, hes given me confidence back, and let me realize that the issues I was having with Lucas were not all my fault, and that I can actually ride reasonably well!

So onto the goals for 2012 to see how I did!

1) To loose the weight that has been holding back my riding. Now that my joints are better, becoming a fitter rider will only help my balance and skill on a horse.
Well that didn't go so well although I have made a good start on it this year.

2) To stop listening to the voice in my head telling me that I'm not good enough, that Lucas is going to spook, that I'm going to fall off... any and all of it must stop!

Yeah so not such a good goal with Lucas but I haven't heard that voice in my head for about 2 months now.  Its kind of funny, that's not something I think about on a regular basis anymore but I thought about it all of the time when I was riding Lucas.

3) To give up my crutch of a bit, the twisted wire. I'm a good enough rider, and Lucas is broke enough that we really don't need it.
Again something that I don't even use now that I'm not riding Lucas. 

4) To ride in a pattern class at every show (as long as it doesn't require dropping your irons, and if the English one does than I have to show horsemanship)
Yeah only got to one show and only did showmanship at it.

5) To trust in Lucas so that he can trust in me. I can do it at a show, its time to do it at home.
Again only got to one show and only did showmanship

6) To do a trail class with Lucas (with me in the saddle) although I will be ok if we do not complete every obstacle.
See above. (4 & 5)

7) To apply for my AQHA Amateur card. Its been more than 5 years since I last accepted money to show/train a horse or judge a show. I need to accept that an Amateur is what I am now and it is ok to compete at that level!
Done and sent in, should have my Amateur card in my hand in the next couple of weeks,

So onward and foreword for 2013!

1) Ride different horses.  Even if its just the kids horses, more saddle time on different horses will make me more confidant.

2) Try to continue to ride Oscar at least twice a week.

3) Take more pictures of the horses and try to get someone to take photos of me on the horses.

4) Try to get to 2 horse shows this summer and show!

5) To loose 20 pounds before show season. (May)

6) To have more "wow look what we just did" moments weather at home or at shows

7) To keep on top of my finances, If I want to seriously start looking for a new horse in 2014 I need to have a decent size budget to do that with.  Most of Lucas' money went to fixing my car, and paying off loans not so much saving for a new horse.

Good news on the RA front

I went and saw Dr. O on Friday.  Got some good news in regard to my blood tests.  She told me that my blood results were the best she has seen from me in the entire time she has been seeing me.  I also get to cut out on a pill which has never really agreed with me.  All of that is good news.  She was also really positive about my change to gluten free, which so far is really showing some benefits.

I do think that the new drugs and the chiropractor are both helping me feel better than I have in a very long time.  At times when I feel like I'm having a hard day, this blog has been great about allowing me to remember how bad it was a couple of years ago, and see the progress I've made in battling this illness.

Stallions, and breeding season.

So in about a month we will be starting breeding season at the farm, my most favorite time of the year!

Our first mare (who was breed to Chevy, Chilly's sire) isn't due until the end of January but from the looks of it we are praying that she makes it past January 1st!  The other 3 mares are breed to foal around the end of March and all are doing well.  (One is breed to Chevy, one is Chevy's dam breed to No Doubt I'm Lazy, and the new Potential Investment mare is breed to Special Invitation (APHA).   It will be fun to see how all 4 of the babies compare to each other as they grow up.

Both Chevy and Rusty got lunged with saddles on today, vacation is over!  Over the next 2-3 months they are going to have a lot of visitors as people wanting to breed start looking for a stud.  The extreme issues that local breeders have had with getting shipped semen over the border and to our remote area means that having stallions that are quality animals with quality bloodlines is a big draw to locals who want to breed their mare.

Unfortunately D and C do live cover which can be dangerous for the stud, mare, and humans that are involved.  But again, finding a vet that is competent to do AI in mares can also be difficult.  I have heard of a vet who dropped several thousands of dollars worth of frozen semen into hot water to defrost them, like you do with bull semen..... killed all of it. 

Oscar's mom is home

And I'm kind of sad to have to share him, but shes such a good kid.  She showed up at the barn just as I was putting on Oscars saddle last night and I figured she would want to ride, but she said she just needed some barn time and to spend some time with him.  So I rode him for 15 min and then she got on for another 10 and jogged him around.  Shes going out tonight to ride which is good because I'm going to bed early!

Its been a week of about 95% gluten free.  I'm still trying to read the packaging on everything and I'm sure there is stuff that I'm missing.  Tonight my mom cooked a ham, and I had already eaten some before I thought to wonder weather or not it was gluten free. 

48 hours of Gluten free

And I'm feeling really good.  I guess you get used to how you feel and figure that is normal.  No more bloating, gas, and running to the bath room.  They kept telling me it was side effects from the drugs (at last count I was on over 10 of them plus vitamins and supplements)

I got to go for a bit of a ride last night, it was -7 plus windchill (which sucks any heat left in the indoor to the outside!).  But with the long underwear, and the down jacket it wasn't too bad.  We didn't do too much because of the cold but had some nice jogging work, and I felt like he was being really good about keeping his shoulders level while we did some changes in direction and schooling figures.  We were riding with a friend who was testing out the new lesson pony so we only loped one direction once, but he was good like always, we're really starting to figure each other out.  He doesn't get into his 'hoppy' lope any more but we are defiantly not ready to show yet.

Oscar's owner comes home tomorrow so I won't have sole custody anymore!  I'm a little sad but I'll go back to working Chilly for a couple of weeks as shes ready for a little bit of grown up work before it gets too cold. 

Going Gluten Free

Well saw the family doctor today he thought that my digestive issue might be something serious. So I have an appointment with a new specialist, but until then I have to try going gluten free. So far not too bad, cereal was my big worry but the first gluten free one I tried was really good. Anyone have good tips or tricks?

I am so accident prone

So I took my saddle home yesterday, cleaned it up, and used a spray conditioner/protector to help the leather.  Everything was going good until about half an hour later when I realized that my eye was really itchy.  I went to take my contact out and my entire eye was red.  We think that I either got some spay into my eye, or some was left on my hand.  So I did get it flushed out quickly and tossed the contacts I had in and it is much better today.  Only me.

I did get another ride in today and had a bunch of fun with Oscar, doing some bending and leg yielding.We did lope some (on our own) and even attempted and succeeded in doing a flying lead change, on purpose!

Week day ride

Had a bit of a quick ride tonight on Oscar.  I set up a row of poles in the center of the ring and practiced serpentines over and around the poles. It was good that kept both of us thinking and good practice of keeping his shoulders up though the turns without me nagging him.  I also did shallow loops (m x f) and having the poles in the middle made me stick to a "size" of my shallow loops and not cheat.

Then we used the cones that were set up around the arena and made up some quick walk/trot patterns with turns on the haunch and forehand to work on my one handed riding.  If my plan is to show horsemanship this summer at a show or two we need this time between lessons to work on finessing our one hand work with patterns.

I did manage to ride in a t-shirt tonight (it was 8 degrees!)  But I'm staring to miss the kids to ride with, it does get a little lonely riding on your own all the time.  Being the only person who rides year round can be satisfying but sad at the same time.

Ethics or the lack of

A couple of issues have come up over the past couple of weeks that have made me question the ethics of the horse industry. 

I'm only going to slightly touch on the abuse, its there, realize it, and do your best to look after your horse, because the breed associations don't seem to want to.

 And I'm not just talking about starving horses or beating them, I'm talking about the underhanded abuse that is done to get a horse in the show ring.  The bosal rubs, raw mouths, and spur marks.  I am very thankful that my BNT that I trained with wouldn't let anything like that happen to a horse in his care. (Heck we were horrified when one of the kids got new boots that rubbed the hair off on her HUS gelding!  She wasn't allowed to go to the next show as punishment!)

Sure there are accidents, and sometimes tack doesn't fit right, but take the time to let the injury heal, don't cover it with make up to get the horse in the show ring.

Both Oscar and Lucas have had their tails 'done'.  Lucas' was done via injections.  He had most
of his movement back, but couldn't lift his tail up when he was excited. Oscars tail has been broken in multiple places.  Of course its possible that he could have broken it as a youngster (Sophie, my friends foal did come out of the mare with a kink in the bottom of her tail, vets told her that a kink in the bottom is common).  How much do you have to hate a horse to break its tail multiple times?  He can use it a fair bit now, but like Lucas, he doesn't have full use.

The new "Novice" rules for AQHA. 

Personally in 2013 I can enter the show ring again as an amateur ( and a Novice at that!)  Most likely I will show novice in the riding classes if I have a chance to show AQHA again.  I will not show novice in halter.  Been there done that got the T-shirt.

Recently they changed the rules, now only your past 3 years worth of points count to your novice eligibility.  So you could be a youth would champion in western pleasure, sit out your college years and come back as a novice in Amateur.  Sure there is the Rookie division, but you can only stay in that until you get 10 points.

Although nothing has been finalized yet, it seems like AQHA is trying to keep the top layer of exhibitors happy and to hell with the rest of them.  I think what really gets me is the people on the pleasure horse forum who were so excited to go back to novice.  They had 100's or even 1000's of points in the events they wanted to show novice in, but there new horse 'wasn't competitive yet', or 'the new trail patterns are too hard'. 

I've been on the fence myself about showing novice or not, but with only 1.5 points to my name let alone my lack of loping skills at this point makes my arguments almost non relevant when compared to the people who seem to want to "go back novice".

Trainer ethics, or the lack of.

A local trainer has now been though 3 local barns (all within 2 hours of each other) and has left nothing but burnt bridges, used up client credit cards (he was using a clients CC given to him for horse show expenses to purchase feed for his entire barn), abused horses (were talking way worse that what I mentioned above) lawsuits, and illegal horse paper transactions.

This year one of his students won a top 10 at congress and another built him a 15 stall barn.

I don't get it.  How do this people not see the mess and run as fast as they can from him? 


All of this boils down to one thing. 

How much is the blue ribbon worth? 

Pictures of Lucas and his new owner

Comments

I think I finally managed to turn off that stupid word verification thing for comments.  If I haven't can someone comment and tell me how to?

I'm stewing on a post on ethics in the horse industry but its slow forming into words... Its coming from some changes in the AQHA show formats, abuse at the national and local level, and bad big (and small) trainers.

Not much going on here, other than that.  Oscar's owner is coming home in 2 weeks so we're looking foreword to seeing her again.

Lesson #3

First off I have to say that my Mom finished her Masters in Education today!  

Well we had lesson number 3 this morning, both horses were full of it from not being able to run and play outside to much so we both had to lunge a bit longer than usual.  Once we got on D had us practice some backing and haunch turns to get the horses moving off our legs, and had me and Oscar doing a couple of spins as well.  So we warmed up jogging around and working on picking our horses shoulders up again and moving there hips around.  Then we trotted though and over some poles that D set up for us.  Then we worked on our loping.  D had set up the poles so that we could lope 20 m circles and go though the poles to work on our steering and straightness. 

Once we had worked on all of that D, had us do a mini trail course we backed though one set of poles, 90 turn on the haunch for another set of poles, 90 then jog around all of the poles to jog over a set of raised poles.  We did ok, but Oscar really picked his legs up to get over the poles which was bouncy, but we did it!

Today I really felt like I was having some good loping moments.  I remembered to sit tall and keep my hips loose.  I'm still sure that it still doesn't look good, but we're figuring it out. 

My big things to remember are to keep my body loose and keep Oscars nose up and to the inside so he can't swap leads on me!

Totally got schooled last night by Oscar

Took him out to lunge him and this is what happened.  He rolled a couple of times then got up and let me untangle him the lungline from his head and we finished our exercise.  The frozen ground outside isn't letting them roll or play much.

I hate RA and infusions

After 3 hours on the phone yesterday morning I finally got into my appointment for my IV on time yesterday.  At first my appointment was to be on the 29th, then got moved to the 27th at 2:30.  They called me the morning of to move my appointment to 4:30.  (I had requested 2:30 as I Hate driving in the dark and I have an hours drive home)  I had already requested time off work, re-aranged a carpool and scheduled my day so that the 2:30 appointment would work.

After they called to move my appointment to 4:30 I had to un-arrange the time off work, work day ect.  I was pissed but ya know shit happens sometimes.  Until I found out why I got bumped.

Turns out another patient left her meds at home and had to send someone back to her house (over an hours drive away) to pick them up for her.  Apparently she couldn't be rescheduled but I could?  Turns out the person she sent back, didn't bring back the right meds anyways so I managed to get into my 2:30 appointment as planned.

I guess I'm really pissed because the nurse tried to bush off my complaints with "Oh she doesn't have a car so she has to schedule a drive with friends".  I understand that, completly, but apparently my work day, my carpool and my missed time from work is ok to mess up???


Grrrrr

Maybe I can ride after all, Lesson #2

Well we survived our second lesson.  We rode with one of the kids who trailers in for lessons as D thought it would be good for both of us.  The plan was to work on some trail obstacles, and D didn't want to set up for both our lessons so he thought combining was a good idea, plus both of us need practice riding with other people.

So we warmed up doing circles 10m and 20m, changes in direction though the center from A-C and from B-E.  We worked on the different bends the horses should follow on the 10m versus the 20m.  For me this  mostly involved keeping Oscars shoulder up and inside leg on to keep him from falling into our circle.

Once we've done this a bunch in both directions, we would do our 10m circle then canter out for 5-10 strides then back to the jog.  The idea was to keep a bit of the bend out of the 10 meter into our lope (shoulders up haunches to the inside).

After a little walk break we worked on getting the bend for our circles on the straight wall while going straight and asking for a lope. We'd lope 3-6 20 meter circles then back to a walk and work on shoulders and hips while walking.

We had some great jog work, and I felt like I finally figured out Oscars lope.  I wasn't afraid to use my reins a little bit, to help me frame him up a little bit especially when it was something we were working on at the walk and the jog it was just a continuation of that.

I felt like I was really able to RIDE him this time rather than just being a passenger at the lope.  We had some absolute great lope steps and some awesome transitions from the walk to the trot.  I had some moments where I was like "This right here is why I love western pleasure".  And no not the head bobbing sideways lope that you see at the shows, but the soft easy slow lope that's so wonderful when you find it. 

D said that Oscar's legs were the best he's seen them in a long time.

And we never got around to trail, but that was ok too :)

Stiff, and how I love Oscar

Well I was feeling even crapper (is that a word) on Monday so I went to bed early.  Tuesday was better so after work I headed out to the barn and got ready to ride. 

First off for all the training barns Oscar has been in, he HATES blankets sometimes.  You really can't tell when or if he will try to destroy them, but when he decided its done, its done.  Since September he's ruined a rain sheet, and yesterday his nylon sheet.  C won't let me put winter blankets on him yet, last winter was the first in 4 years that he wore a blanket for most of the winter so she wants him to have a decent hair coat just in case he decides that he would rather be naked half way though the winter!

Anyways after we had discussed the ripped sheet, I got Oscar tacked up.  He's done very little since last week and he had lots of energy on the lunge line.  Its hard with all of the mud lately for them to do much more than occasionally trot around so I like having this time for him to work out the 'kinks'.

So after we got him warmed up (and I did some streaches) I got the mounting block over and attempted to get on.... and he swung his hips out of the way so that he was too far from the mounting block.  Well I had let him moving around last time slide, so it was partly my fault, but I got down and made him work a little bit on the ground (turns on the haunch/forehand) before setting him back up at the mounting block.  And he was fine at that point, but that was the way the entire ride went.  A little bit of resistance then he would give in and move on to the next issue.

I could feel my body get stiffer and stiffer as the ride went on though, but Oscar kept on trucking for me.  He's only "comment" was to pin his ears when my upper body and hips got too stiff, which was a visual reminder to me to loosen up. 

I can completely see why Lucas was getting so frustrated with me, where as Oscar just keeps going on auto pilot, Lucas would be trying to figure out what I wanted, and would get frustrated when he couldn't figure it out.

I feel bad that I was always sending him horribly mixed messages though my body, but at the same time I couldn't help it.  And both Oscar and Lucy managed to do there jobs and block out my movements/stiffness that didn't mean anything.  I guess that's what makes good therapy horses as well.  Some horses can forgive a riders movements that are not directed twords them, and some can't.

blah

Well I planed a ride on the weekend but the cold weather and meetings took up time on Saturday, and Sunday I wasn't feeling too hot.  Unfortunately the not great feeling has continued onwards to today.  You know its going to be a bad week when you wake up on Monday and go "I have to get up now?".  The not great feeling has really been going on for a couple of weeks but today was the worst.  So I made an appointment with my family Dr for early next month, I'm hoping that I'll feel better by then but I have the appointment if I'm not.

Quick ride.

Things did not go as well tonight on my ride alone as they did on the weekend when D was helping!  However we did have a good ride, and Oscar has started listening to my voice commands which helps in the downward transitions if I get loose in the saddle at the lope.

We mostly did some 2 tracking, and trying to lift his shoulders up.  Then I did do a couple of half circles at the lope.

You have to realize this is the 4th time I've loped since my last bad lesson on Lucas. Oscar is such a confidence booster, hes calm, willing and ready to go and do 'something'. His worst thing that he does is try and bite you when you are tacking him up, and even that is less now that he has the new "fuzzy" girth.

Lesson # 1

So I had my first real lesson back with D today.  I was a little nervous but I know in my heart he would never put me in a position that I would come to harm.

We started with some small figure 8's and working on keeping his inside shoulder up and keeping a good rytham at the walk and then the trot.  Then we moved on to using the whole arena, but still doing the 8's, but using it as an opportunity to allow him to stay correct for a larger circle.  Then we added halts, walk steps, and turns on the haunches in the middle of the 8's.

After we were both warmed up and working we started throwing in some 1/2 circles of lope in the 8.  Our transitions were rough which is to be expected, but this work of short burst of lope gave me a chance to work on them.  Once we had mastered the 1/2 circles of canter we started throwing in some complete circles of lope before changing direction.  Again we reinforced the 'keeping up the inside shoulder' at the lope.  We did try a change or two (on purpose this time!) but didn't get them this time LOL.

We also did some two tracking to get my leg pressure even and correct before working on loping large around the ring both directions.  This was the hardest because Oscar gets 'hoppy' if he gets too tense (and I don't help at times).  But D and I worked on tweaking my position a bit to ride more defensively and not so much like the equation rider I try to be.  We've decided to think about letting my legs go foreword a bit, to keep my top from swinging it foreword.  So were going to give it a try, and I'm going to think about keeping my legs more toward the girth.

E is better!

She's walking, talking and even came out to the barn this morning!  Shes still a little weak, and cannot do too much at all,  but she is back to looking after her self and doing normal daily tasks,  Shes even out of the hospital for the long term.  (She still has appointments, and tests that need to be done on a regular basis).

Turns out that she had a stroke due to her blood being too thick to run in her body, and the other side effects were caused by not enough oxygen being supplied to the part of the brain that controls your body movements.

She has some minor issues with her right leg and isn't very steady with her hands yet but the physical therapists are sure that it will only be a short time before she is even better.  The doctors told her she could ride as soon as she felt strong enough, which she hopes will be in a couple of weeks.  They did tell her that she must wear a helmet for the rest of her life if she wants to ride.  She was very willing to accept that one condition!

I went on a shopping trip today in town, got Oscar the fuzzy girth that hes been requesting.  (OK he hasn't vocalized this!  But he doesn't like getting saddled, and hes gone and picked up a fuzzy girth off the rack of girths twice now!)  And since he tore open his blanket on the weekend I did pick up a new turnout for him as well.  I'm going to try and fix his old one but I don't have much in the way of sewing skills.

I loped again :)

First off, I loped Oscar again last night! I had just been planing an easy walk-trot ride to give me some saddle time before our lesson on Saturday. 2 minutes into our ride D comes in and starts asking me questions, giving advice and then told me it was time to start loping, so lets go.
I was scared and I told D I wasn't sure if I was ready, but he told me to just keep pushing him to go 'fast' and he would stop that 'hopping' that he does. (One of these days I will video him doing this, its like Pepe Le'pew and how he bounces.) He only does this when he thinks he needs to go slow. After the first 3 circles we got into a flow and it wasn't that bad. I do miss Lucas' canter on a good day, Oscar can't compare to that but he doesn't want me to fall off and he knows what lead he should be on.
In the midst of our ride, we trying getting him to stay more balanced going to the left he tends to drop his right shoulder and bend to the outside. I would put my inside leg on to correct and Oscar would just flip leads instead. It made for an interesting circle and we did do 3-4 changes which was interesting. I haven't had a horse that switched leads so easily since I was riding the jumpers.

We only had a short ride but rather than me worrying about loping on Saturday in my lesson I'm now looking forward to it.

Oscar also managed to destroy the front of his turnout blanket that I got him last month. We think he got hot (it went from -5 to +10 over night, and he's now back in the main barn which stays warmer) and he grabbed the front of the blanket and ripped it. I'm just glad it was a $40 blanket I bought used rather than a brand new one!

Even better news!

E is back to brushing her own hair and teeth, and getting mostly dressed on her own.  She still has some struggles with minor every day tasks, but every day she is improving.  Her parents are very hopeful that she will be able to come home this weekend to have some 'home' time before the start more intense physical rehab next week.

While her horses live in her back yard, her parents plan to bring her show horse to the barn so that she can have some companionship as she regains her balance and skills.  We'll also be able to ride her horse for her so that he can have some energy worked out before she gets on.  I'm a bit worried about her riding, the Physical therapists that we know believe it will help, as do I, but I know from personal experience how hard those first rides can be when your body isn't familiar any more.

Anyways we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  Keep thinking good thoughts, they are working!

Small rant

Although I rode yesterday and I was able to function today at work, I still had some back pain and I was SOOO tired.  I am great full every time I get on a horse that I am still able to do so but I really wish that I was able to ride without it hurting my back.

Chiropractor did my back again today, seems like my upper back is always out of place.  I'm better than I was than when I was riding Lucas but its still not great.

Finaly some good news

E is on the road to recovery!  The doctors have found out that the stroke was caused by very thick blood, not a blood clot or clots.  Shes the youngest that they have ever found with it, and is now on blood thinners.  There is great hope that because she did not suffer any paralazation just nerve damage that her recovery may be quicker than if she had some.  It will be a long recovery, but she was a young woman in great health so the doctors are being very positive.

I got in another ride today and I'm having so much fun riding Oscar.  :)  He's just a lovely horse to ride. I can trust him enough to work on my own position while he keeps trotting along (lots of two point which I am going to pay for tomorrow!)  and then we work on getting him a little more correct once I'm using my body more correctly. 

I have signed up for a lesson with D next week.  I want some help with what I can't see while I'm riding him.  We've also have a plan to work on some trail things over the next couple of months to improve both of our skills. 

A little video I shot of Oscar today for his owner.

No good news but no bad news either

We haven't heard any more from E or her parents but at this point we know that no news is good news and that we knew they would be busy with doctor meetings and appointments today. 

Oscar and I are good.  We are really starting to work as a team.  Tonight I found a bit that really works for the two of us, and our walk/trot transitions are really coming.  Were going to start lessons with D next week to help with some of the issues that I'm seeing but cant quite fix on my own. 

On Saturday I had a very low key ride (I sat and talked to C more than we rode around!) but by the time I got off my right leg was numb.  I went and saw the Chiropractor on Monday and he found that my "funny disk" was pressing on my sciatic nerve and that was causing the occasional numbness. 

Need some good thoughts

E is still in the hospital and although she is comfortable and with her mom, she needs some good thoughts sent her way.  Turns out they now think that it has been a stroke, or many strokes, that have caused her issues but they are still working on a diagnosis.  She was a healthy 18 yo before this happened, its hard to think that someone so young could have one.

So if anyone could spare a thought or a prayer for Emily it would be appreciated.  :(

Cancer sucks, worst Monday in history.

2 people in 3 days.

On Saturday it was the kid (well he was 18) that lived across the road. He has been battling cancer since he was a kid.  No one thought he would survive the first, or second time he had brain cancer but he did.  Last year they found out it was back, and there was nothing left to do.

In the process of his short life he and his mom raised money for brain cancer research and spread awareness across the country.  The good die young.

Today my other 'adult' rider at the barn that I show with lost her mom to colon cancer.  She had only been diagnosed this spring.  On thanksgiving weekend my friend told me that they were giving her 2 months to live.  She died 2 weeks later.  

She was the barn "Mom" and was always around with words of encouragement.  She will be missed.

And yet there is more...

I knew that my former student 'paint kid', E, who now rides with D and C had been having some weird issues at school but today when I mentioned something to my dad he finally told me how bad it is... She is randomly loosing vision, walking into walls and can no longer control her muscles enough to dress herself.  So if anyone has some prayers, or happy thoughts to send to E I would appreciate it.  She goes in for more tests tomorrow and we're hoping to now more by the end of the week.

I have back developments but its nothing compared to everything else today.

My thoughts on Mugs Post and lessons.

Post from Mugs - Bad riding doing good

 Love this and perfect timing!  Oscar is lovely and is helping me just enjoy riding again and not worrying about perfection.  But I think she is correct I need MILES to fix my issues, not lessons where I work on perfection.









I'm tempted to get back into lessons with D, but I realize that it is miles that I need so that I feel more comfortable on a horse.  I know this shit, its just getting my body and mind to work together again. 

So anyone have any thoughts?  1/2 hour lessons once a week plus riding on my own, or just keep riding on my own for now until we are ready to start getting ready for shows?

Oscar update

eating grass

I promised Oscar's owner more pictures so I decided to share with you as well.  Hes doing really well, and gaining weight in all the right areas.

more grass, he doesnt like standing still for pictures

Love this one of him, really shows how he's starting to glow!

October photo opportunity

A ride (finaly!)

So I managed to get a quick ride in last night, my friends mother came and rode her mostly retired show horse with me so I wasn't alone either.  Thanks to my Chiropractor, for the first time in memory I didn't feel like I was off balance when I first got on the horse, nor did I think that my stirrups need to be adjusted.  I was finally 'even'! 

We had a nice walk/trot/jog with Oscar.  Hes a lot of fun right now.  We're both enjoying the challenge of getting to know each other and the things that make both of us happy.  I have been riding him in a snaffle but if I pick up both reins at the same time and push him into it he gets frustrated.  I'm going to take out my french link tomorrow and give that a try.  Its such a challenge figuring out why a horse likes one bit and not another.  The bits that his owner has been riding him in are ok, but she's been having issues with him getting over flexed and getting frustrated with her so its a good time to look at it if this is an ongoing issue for him.

I got his shoes pulled, and he's barefoot now.doesn't seem to be an issue.  He does have some hock issues, but hopefully with some slow building work this winter they will improve.

The picture below is one I took for oscars owner, D and the cats wanted to be in the picture too!

Another former student is a congress finalist! (update)

Will have a full post later but one of the former students (first families to actually 'pay me' to ride their horse) youngest daughter had a great go in the novice trail and is in the finals! I'm so happy and excited for her!

This family started riding at the barn where I worked, and I helped them buy there first horse (they often admired him so when I heard that the original owners *might* be thinking about selling, I let the family know.)  They paid me a little extra to ride there horse on the weeks they couldn't get there, which was a big help financially for me at the time, and he was a very broke horse which helped my riding.  The younger daughter liked horses but didn't have much interest in riding.  Over the years as she developed more interest they purchased a horse that I broke out as a 2 yo for her to show (he was 5 when they bought him).  Both of those horses are semi-retired now and the two girls share one horse to show.  From the little shy girl that she was, I'm so happy to see her dreams coming true.

Still Alive!

I'm just about fully recovered from the cold, still have a bit of a cough, but even that seems to be going away. 

Oscar is good, tonight I actually had a chance to brush him for the first time in over a week.  I think he likes being a pretend halter horse, I'll have to get some updated pictures.  His coat is looking great, he's keeping his blanket on (he is well known for his ability to rip himself out of blankets he doesn't like) and hes gained some weight over the past couple of weeks. 

The chiropractor has really been helping.  I noticed on Wednesday that my ankle was bothering me a little, and I had an appointment but before I had a chance to say anything he said "oh your lower back needs done today!".  I'm also on a type of Flora digestive aid that he recommended that seems to be helping my digestive system.  And biggest change of all:

I've stopped drinking Pepsi!

I do miss it occasionally but I realize now what a huge factor it was playing in my health.  I'm still drinking lots of juice, but its much better for me than Pepsi.  And I have managed to triple my water intake over the past week.

I will say that my face has stopped breaking out, so if the outside is improving we can hope the same thing is happening in the inside.

Down in the dumps

So I am really sick, temperature just doesn't want to go down, I'm coughing up junk and I'm exhausted. C and D left for congress on Saturday and although I fed horses on Saturday AM, I managed to get the other family that is helping to do chores last night and all day today. 

It just sucks.  I don't know what to do about work, I hate missing time, but if I'm too sick I'm not doing anyone any good to be there.  And with the flues and colds that come with winter I know I'll be missing more time over the coming months.

Normally I don't get this sick until March, so its very early but what if this keeps up? 

Just not getting any better!

Yikes!  Well I got my IV last night.  Did work ok until the tubing came apart from the needle that was stuck in my arm. ... And once the drugs aren't flowing in... the blood starts flowing out....yuck....so that was nasty, but the nurse was quick to clean it up, and I no longer pass out at the sight of my own blood!

Today I'm at work when I suddenly start coughing all the time.  This is one of the side effects that is reportable, so i had to call 2 different doctors to report the symptoms, the 1-800 drug company number then left work 1/2 way though the day to get to see a different doctor to confirm it was just a cold that came on quickly. 

I did have a much better treatment at the Chiropractor on Wensday, got new insoles for my sneakers and I go back again tomorrow as well.  Its really starting to make a difference I think.  Oscar is getting his feet done tomorrow or Saturday so I hope to go riding this weekend, fingers crossed nothing else happens!

Bad week

So the adjustment went well, but it was too much for my body.  I ended up getting a migraine and then sleeping for 14 hours, waking for most of the afternoon and then went back to bed for my regular bed time. I do feel more 'balanced' and was able to pull my pants on (one leg at a time) while standing up, I usually have to sit down to do this.

Oscars owner is home from university so she's riding him this weekend.  I did buy him a new turnout and a show sheet for him that my friend had for sale so he'll be almost as well dressed as Lucas was.  Thankfully he fits into almost all of Lucas' stuff, just on the smaller holes. 

I tried to ride Oscar in a new saddle pad and girth on Tuesday but I think that he didn't like them.  He just wasn't himself and I think it was more to the changes than anything else.  So we will go back to the old saddle pad, and the girth that is "almost" to big for him.

C and D's daughter got married on the weekend (and what a party!) so I did chores for them on Saturday and Sunday so that they could have some family time. 

Its not all in my head

Well we got the results from all the tests that the Chiropractor took on Monday.  Turns out that I'm not crazy after all.  My hips/leg length are fine.  No twisting and one leg isn't longer than the other.  However there is a reason that I'm still occasional having issues with balance and uneven gait.  There is a disk in my lower back that is causing most of my problems.  Its not dangerous and the Chiropractor thinks that it can be helped with some minor adjustments (which will include a new pair of custom insoles for my shoes/boots, my old ones are 5 years old and do need to be replaced big time!) I should be back to a better "normal".

It was great to see the x-rays and have him explain what he thought my issues were (and he was correct, down to how my migraines hurt, and how I loose my balance).  And it was nice to realize that the issues I was having were real issues, and that they weren't related to the RA and they might even be fixable!

So basically it gets broken down into 3 areas.
1) bad neck alignment in my spine is causing the tight muscles and then the migraines as a cause of that.
2) one crappy section in my back, right about where my bra is.
3) bad disk in my pelvic region

We have  a plain of attack now, cross your fingers he can improve things!

There are some lines drawn that he was using for measurements on the x-rays 

neck x-ray

back of the neck disks (and teeth!)

back of the neck, shoulders without teeth

spine

side view but it went a bit blurry

funky disk is right above the cross of lines in the middle.

Lower back

Chiropractor for me

Well I know I'm crooked (though my hips) and the local chiropractor isn't doing much for me.  So on the recommendation of my best friend I went off to see her Chiropractor. 

Hes a former Junior A (semi pro 16-20 year old's) hockey player who went to a top school in the states.  He also manages the health of several semi-pro hockey teams in the area.  So he is very big on the "big picture" of how your body works and starting with a correct skeleton and building from that. 

So we started off with a full history, and ended up with a bunch of digital x-rays that he's going to look at. He tested my reflexes and I failed on my left leg, which was interesting...  On Wednesday I go back for a discussion on my x-rays, and a first adjustment.  Lets hope this helps my right hand side!

Rainy day update

Not much going on here, it's raining (again!) so I went out to the barn in the am and helped with chores, and got Oscar clean enough to put his sheet on. I really did not appreciate how clean Lucas was!  I am so amazed at how dirty Oscar gets every day!  I really think that he just likes being dirty. 

It's back to being quiet in the barn. I'm the only boarder left that rides on any type of regular basis.  Other than C and D's horses we have a retired halter horse and her weanling, my friends horse who she cant ride at the time due to her healing very slowly from a car accident this summer, and another two horses who's owners only get to the barn once or twice a month. 

While I will enjoy not having to share the indoor for the next 2 months, come December or January I miss having other people to ride with again. Picture spam of Oscar:

September night ride.

Most likely one of our last 'after work' rides outside. Hunting season starts soon, and the time change means less safe sunlight hours to ride outside. 

I love Oscar, the kids were packing for the 4H show, the horses in the paddock were running around and we just went and jogged around.  Hes so easy going. 

Were back to riding in a snaffle, we need more work on our bending more than anything else.  I only got to ride for about 15 min before my ankle started bothering me but its a start.  I figure its best to stay at a walk and trot and keep us both happy and keep me sound for the time being. 

It looks like we will not be going to the show in October.  I haven't had enough time cantering, and there are no walk trot classes so its not realistic to think that we could keep up in the classes and I'd rather not ruin someone else s ride.

It's here!

The saddle got here this am. Had a quick ride on Oscar tonight to try it out. Fits both of us great, a little stiff in the fenders, and they need to get slid back a bit for me, but nothing that can't be fixed after another ride or two.

My view

Getting tacked up for the first time

black edging around the silver

Fenders stuck forward a bit

Back skirts

Front of saddle.

A great wedding dance

Wedding number 2 in our family, and a great dance by my cousin and my uncle.  For the intresting part go to 1:30!

More Oscar pictures

Ankle is still touchy but way better than it was a week ago.  I got to ride again today, and we worked on just working together.  Its coming but we need lots of miles at this point.  Hes very stiff though his body (like me) so we worked on stretching a bit, and long trotting and then did some figure eights at a jog.  I didn't stretch beforehand but should have, I could feel how tight my back and hips were so Im sure Oscar could too!  We only rode for 15 min or so because we were alone and I didn't want to do too much unless someone was there.

Some photos of Oscar, I take photos for his owner every week or so.  I'm going to try and post them here after I send them to her.

waiting for apple #2

Carrying a good amount of weight, although I would like more bum.  Hes a bit of a hard keeper, so this is a struggle that his owners have been dealing with for years.  His coat looks great though.

hanging out in the barn after our ride

Back in the saddle (although still not mine)

Saddle is in route, somewhere between here and Kentucky, however I think its most likely stuck in customs somewhere.

I went out and rode tonight anyways there ended up being 3 of us trying to ride (me and the two girls getting ready for the provincial 4-h show).  It was the first time I've ridden Oscar inside, and with more than one horse at a time (and in a much smaller pen than outside!)  I will enjoy having some alone time in the arena in 2 weeks but come January I'll miss riding with the kids again. 

So despite having a cramped arena we had a decent ride, we are still trying to figure each other out, and the added stress of more people in the ring and being inside for the first time played with my head a little bit.  Once I get out of my head and just RIDE things go better and we 'click'.  Thankfully Oscar is an excellent feedback horse, that he waits for me to get it right before he does something. 

Ankle is doing better but my sneakers were not helping.  Ended up wearing my boots to work today and that was better than wearing my sneakers all week due to the extra support.

Still grounded

Well my ankle got injected this am.  Decided that I had nothing to prove to anyone, and requested to be given the day off from work.  I'm glad I did because it hurts now, and I've been alternating ice and no ice for the past 4 hours.  So no barn for me for a couple of days, I'm crossing every toe that buy Thursday my saddle will be here and I can take it out to the barn even if I cant ride. 

I got my first assignment back and I got a 65% on it!  Not a supper amazing mark but for a first assignment in a course where I will never get to meet my prof I was happy with it.  I got a 10/10 on my writing but lost most of my marks for not analyzing the situation enough, and explaining both sides of the story. 

Home from the aqha show

Ended up going to the local aqha show with my best friend on very short notice. We had a good time but I'm still not happy with the way the wp horses move or the politics involved even in our small area. There were less than 50 horses, the biggest classes had 8 where as when I showed in 2010 most classes had 10 +. Money is the biggest issue. For my friend to show one class ( with halter being free) was over 250. That didn't include gas, or food for the weekend. Because the show was so small and it went from 4 days to two, which is why we went.

Edited to add:
The horses in the WP did not even look fun to ride for the most part.  And extremely unnatural.  I was happy as usual with the HUS classes but the WP still looks like its out in left field.  But what do you do?  My friend was upset that her nice moving (natural) mare would be passing horses left and right but I made her go in her class anyways.  Her mare has a gorgeous stride (and is slow legged) but covers a fair amount of ground with each step. Until the mechanical horse gets tossed by the judges she'll stick out, however she'll still have a sound horse in 10 years unlike most of the horses that beat her on the weekend that for the most part have had multiple joint injections before the age of 5. 

Speaking of that I'm off to get my own fetlock injected tomorrow, wish me luck!

We loped!

More than 10 steps!

Both directions!

The 2 point/rising trot exercise is really working and I was feeling so much more secure tonight that I figured I should just bite the bullet and go.  I did my stretching before my ride.  Kept my elbows out in front of me (which for some reason keeps my upper body from locking and lets me follow the horses motion more).

I'm so happy that I got over the 'issue' and Oscar was a super star.  Hes so much fun to ride and work on my own riding with.  Hes happy to get out of the pasture and do something.

Anyways I took pain killers (as a precaution) and now Im going to bed.  Hopefully I can make more sense out of this post tomorrow!

Plan is now that I am ordering a saddle in from Kentucky, hopefully we will have details worked out by the end of the week.

Saddle?

So this is a saddle I am looking at, RS training saddle 17" anyone have any feedback?

Showmanship diva.

I really like the pattern classes. For the most part you don't need a fantastic mover, and if you work hard you can improve. Something that isn't always possible in the rail classes.  In those classes your talent can only take you so far, and the money takes over (to buy a better moving horse!).

 And this is where me and Oscar agree.  Although at one point an extremely talented horse, trainers kept pushing and pushing him to be better and flatter. He was pushed hard to be perfect for the pleasure classes, and now really doesn't like showing in them.  Over the past couple of years with C+D's help his owner has been able to keep him happy while still being able to show him.  Shes added pattern classes to his show day, and has even shown him in reining classes to show him that it is ok to go fast and that he would not be punished.

So our focus for the next couple of months is going to be on showmanship and horsemanship (the only 2 classes that I think we are going to enter in the show next month.)  Thanks to the incoming hurricane today was showmanship day in the indoor!

Its really funny but when I trotted off I forgot how slow western horses go!  I went the Lucas speed I was used to, but Oscar wanted to go his speed.  We worked it out and have settled on an easy jog for me which is a good striding jog for him.  Hes a little sloppy on his stops, and our set ups are still a little funky occasionally (still really trying to get each other figured out).  But I'm really excited to figure out a new horse.

Limits and when to push them

So I went back out and rode again today.  Things are going good.  Oscar and myself have a good working relationship, I ask for something, he hesitates just long enough to make sure I'm ready and then he does it, until he can feel me get wobbly.  At which point he stops waits for me to get sorted out then he resumes his task.  He doesn't get mad or upset, C and I think that hes laughing politely in his head at me.  While Lucas seemed to think my bad moments were holding "us" back, Oscar seems to think that its a game to stay underneath me while I figure out my balance issues. 

He also ran to the gate today when I called for him.

However after our first ride I haven't loped on him since. My balance and core body strength is getting much better and I knew that it would have to before I would be comfortable loping.  Its just taking that step again to actually doing it.... Oscars jog is lovely but the downfall of an extremely broke pleasure horse is a horse with not so great hocks.  They are fused, and do not hurt him but they make his lope "bouncy" and hard to sit to. 

So I am going to ride a couple of times over the weekend and this coming week and I decided that if I can t do it on my own by Thursday/Friday then D is going to give me a bit of a lesson and help me get loping.  D thinks I'm doing just fine on my own and that I know the limits of my body and I should listen to them (most of the time) but I think that I am ready for this step I just need a little push.

On to a brighter topic

I had my Iv on Monday night and it took most of Tuesday to recover from it, and the return to work on Monday.  Good news is that as of this afternoon when I left work I only had 22 unread emails instead of the 171 that I had on Monday!!

I went out to the barn tonight for a 1/2 hour.  Its been poring rain here so I wanted to make sure Oscar hadn't floated away and to pay my part of his board.  I went out to his field and he came trotting over to the fence when I called for him.  Its so nice to have a horse who recognizes you as one of his 'people'.  He got 3 apples for his efforts and the mares (2 of them) had to split the 4th.  Hopefully going out to try and figure out his lope again tomorrow!

Thanks for the comments on the last post, I try to keep this a light chat about my life with horses but sometimes the deeper topics just need to be written down.

On Death and Life

My dads first cousin received a Kidney transplant this weekend.  As a family touched by kidney disease organ donation is a major cause that we support.  My grandmother died in 2001 due to complications from Kidney disease about 10 years after receiving her donated kidney.  It gave her another 10 years of life thanks to someones decision to donate.

My Dad has several family members currently undergoing dialysis including my Aunt.  This usually means trips to a dialysis center 2-3 times a week for 4-5 hours of treatment.  Although dealing with my RA is difficult, I can not imagine having to deal with Kidney failure.  

The reason I'm bringing this up is that in Canada organ donators and organ receivers are not allowed to contact each other.  Other than an anonymous letter, the organ donators family never knows how much that gift means to the family that received the organ.

My family has benefited so much, thanks to the donations of people we will never know.

This time, thanks to social media we know who's kidney we have received.

She was a 16 year old girl who was killed in a car accident.  Her family made the decision to donate her organs and saved several lives, and improved the lives of several others.  My Dad's cousin is aware of who this is and they hope to send a message to the family of the donator once he is a bit more stable.

If anyone has any questions about how to donate, or anything else you can email me at
 justaplainsam@hotmail.com.

CBC The Current radio did an amazing documentary about donation and the contact between the recipient and the donors family.  This may not be available to my USA readers Breathing With Sandra

Oscar pictures

Riding

So I managed to get another ride in today. It was more of a get on and mosey along kind of day.  D mentioned that he was happy I kept riding yesterday, I asked why and he replied "well Oscar was really hot for him yesterday" and then we all almost fell over laughing.  He is such a different horse than Lucas that even on his 'hot' days hes still extremely easy going.

We didn't do too much today, just lunged him for 2 minutes, and then we rode around some cones, and over the poles and bridge that are still set up for trail.  We are still figuring each other out, my balance still isn't great, I'm still 'wiggly' when I get a response that I wasn't expecting from Oscar.  I did shorten my struipps  a hole to see if that helps some (and my new boots do not have a crepe soles) and it does a bit.  I'm still very much in the 'trying to stay on' phase more than the 'fix the horse' stage.  I am so glad to have Oscar to ride though this phase, he is very forgiving of my mistakes, and is happy to go to work every time he sees me.

I'm off for my IV tomorrow and I go back to work tomorrow as well!  Not looking foreword to opening up my work email in the morning!

Summer comes to an end, and I have a horse to ride.

This year I'm happy to see the end of summer. It was hot, full of upheaval and I only got to show once.  Normally this would really disappoint me but, I wasn't ready to show anything and I think it was good for me to realize that and accept it.

Now that September is here, we are onto new challenges! Oscar is officially mine to ride!  I'm covering half his board while his owner is away, and that gives me access to ride him as much as I want over the winter.  I went out and rode him this morning and had a good if quiet ride.  (Although I much prefer quiet over exciting!)  We are still getting to know each other and figure out each other out.  He hasn't gotten much turnout over the past couple of weeks but after a 10 min lunge session he was perfect and quiet and ready to go.

We mostly jogged around, did some rising trot and played with Oscars 'buttons'.  Its still kind of strange riding a horse that isn't Lucas.  I keep expecting Lucas reactions, and becoming a bit surprised when I don't get that response from Oscar.  He is also about 15.3 so is quite a bit shorter, is way more of a western horse that Lucas ever thought of being, and has some reining training.  So our turns on the haunches are a lot faster than I am used to!

I had to take this picture at the cottage today, I left my boots outside to dry off (my feet sweat!) and I was struck by the differences in my family's summer pastimes.  They like the boat and the beach and I am much happier with the horses.

Another show

We are just finishing up another show this week, the local county exabition is on in a town about 15 minutes from home.  All the kids from the barn are there with their horses and some have cattle and sheep at the show as well. 

Most of our barn kids are involved in 4-H and its nice to see large numbers competing in all the events over the week.  A couple have qualified to go onto our provincial show at the end of September (Pro-show) with their horses and cattle.  Our 'barn slave' got grand champion Beef of the 4-H show so we have our fingers crossed that she gets picked at pro-show to go to the Royal Winter Fair show in Toronto in November.  

I unofficaly start my lease on Oscar tomorrow.  Its all done but the paper work and figuring out how much/ who I'm paying, and even then its not a big deal.  Oscars owner and her parents are on Newfoundland this week getting her moved into dorm and making sure she knows how to find her way around St. John's.  We'll get it sorted out when her parents get home. 

Turns out the farm that had the only show I got to go to in the spring with Lucas is having a fall show on Oct. 13th.  Hopefully me and Oscar can get to know each other quickly and we can go to that show and actually show western for the first time in years!  I just need to figure out how to lope on him!

Home at last

Well the show was fun.  We left Wensday in the morning and got to the showgrounds just before supper that night.  We had all of Thursday off to let Freckles, Bella and our friends horse Goose (a yearling) get used to the showgrounds and activity.  It was Goose's second show and Bella's first so we had a lot of walking to do.  The good thing was that Freckles was so used to going to shows that she was a great 'steady Eddie' for the babies.

All of the horses came home with points in Amateur and open classes, and Bella won the weanling futurity!  Freckles had a great first 1/2 half of her class but spooked at some pigeons in the second direction and had a couple of bucks that put her our of the running.

Competition was TOUGH!  The barn next to us had newly crowned Youth World and Champions and reserve champions as well as some national titles. It was a whole different ballgame from what we normally compete with.  We were very happy for the fact that we placed consistently with the quality of the horses that were around us.  And SO much color!  There were a couple of solids, but the colorful ones really out numbered them.

Lots of photos below from our weekend!

Freckles and C and J who was the trainer that imported Lucas.  He's moved to Maine and had a horse at the show.

J's horse

Freckles in her halter class

Waiting for the class to start

a very loud Appaloosa, who won the most colourful classes

waiting in the line up

cute kid and her very nice horse

warming up

off to the lunging area

tiny showmanship girl (she was 6) and her great older horse

waiting for classes and some of the trailer parking

Baby Bella and her first cooler!

24 in the 'most colorful' class