Lots to think about

Kate from http://ayearwithhorses.blogspot.ca/  posted a link to this great blog post:

http://lopetexas.typepad.com/horse_tales/2012/04/the-right-match.htm

Talk about just the right timing.  So here's the question part of the blog and my answers on how they relate to Lucas and me.

Here are some questions that I have found useful to consider:

• Do you frequently postpone riding sessions with your horse because he is having physical problems? Is your horse ever sore (legs, back, withers, etc) after riding? Is this a consistent pattern?

Not really, I find more health reasons for me not to ride than I worry about Lucas.

• Have friends or family ever suggested to you that you might need a different type of horse? Has a trainer/instructor ever told you that your horse wasn’t a good match? Have multiple trainers/instructors suggested that you might want to reconsider your horse choice? Note: Multiple professionals giving you this type of feedback is a very serious signal to think about.

 Several people have suggested that I'm not happy, and neither is Lucas. 

•  Has anyone ever told you that they were worried that you were going to get hurt with your horse?

 My best friend is the only one that is concerned about my safety, but she knows what will happen if I fall off.  D and C recently admitted that they think he is becoming too 'bossy' for me, and a bit too strong.

• When you ride your horse, do you both progress steadily over time? Do you work on new things or always do the same routine? Are either of you bored?

I feel like we never progress, and he has so much training I have nothing to teach him and I love teaching new stuff to horses.  

• Do you have fun when you ride your horse? Note: If your stomach is churning and you only exhale every 15 minutes while in the saddle, you are not having fun.

No

• Do you put off learning more advanced riding techniques because you aren’t sure you and your horse can do those together? Note: Not everyone is interested in learning how to piaffe, but this question did help me realize what was going on with Sally and me.

 Yes, he has the talent (and truthfully so do I) but we never seem to get there.

• Do you spend more time on the ground with your horse (round pen work, hand walking, grooming, etc) than you do riding your horse? Note: This question is not directed at folks who have pasture pals they adore but don’t ride for a good reason (the horse is retired or in rehab, for example). The question is for people who have a horse they acquired for riding. 

Yes, I wish I could ride more often, but I don't for just about every reason under the sun.  Mostly lately its come down to a pain issue.

• How often have you ridden your horse without supervision (i.e., not in a lesson) in the past 6 months? In the past year? A low number (i.e., one that you can actually remember) is food for thought.

A reasonable number, what would be more interesting is what I do when no-one is around.  Mostly just walk-trot.

• Pretend for a minute that you HAVE to rehome your horse for a good reason (such as you just got offered a dream job in New Zealand and can’t take your horse there). How does that make you feel? Sad, excited, relieved? 

Relived, but sad.

• If you use a trainer for your horse, how long has your horse been in training with that person? Have you switched trainers since you’ve had your horse? If so, how many trainers has your horse been with in the last year? In the last two years?

We've only been with D and C, but the man I used to work with did give us a lesson in December.  If I just shut up the voice in my head and LISTEN to D I would be ahead of the game.

• Pretend for a minute that the horse person you trust or admire more than anyone (your current instructor, your most revered horsemanship master, your barn BFF, or Ray Hunt himself speaking from the grave) just sat you down and told you that your horse needs someone different. How do you react — are you angry (“What do they know?”), defiant (“I’ll show them and ride my horse in the Olympics one day”), concerned (“Oh no, what if they are right”) or sad (“I know they are right”)?

Sad, and I would agree

Eye opening to say the least.  As much as I love Lucas, I need to love him enough to find him a home where he will be happy all of the time. 

I did have a good lesson on Saturday with D. We worked on trot poles and getting the horses shoulders "up" and the horses rocked back on there haunches.  It was good because it gave me something to focus on so I couldn't stress about noises, or passing the other horse (or having the other horse pass us).  We ended up cantering though two of the poles then having to make a sharp right turn about 2 strides out of the poles.  It was a good exercise for both of us and made us sit back and think, instead of getting heavy and flat.

I'm a bad blogger

Work has been crazy, my back has been killing me, and I'm having some conflicting emotions about Lucas.  Some people emailed me wanting to know if he was still for sale, and although they reached the decision that in the end he was just going to be too tall for them it did make me think about things...

I haven't ridden since I rode 2 days in a row and had to miss work.  I'm worried that the pain will be too much the next day and I cant afford to miss work.  One of the kids (hes only 15 but taller than me) rode him on Wednesday night and had a great ride on him,  he thinks that Lucas is awesome, and really broke.  I don't know whats wrong with me.... why don't I like riding him?

Horse fair

We went to the horse fair today in a town about an hour from us.  I only bought a curb chain, but I spent a bunch of money the day before buying liniment for Lucas.  (And the owner of the tack store found a pump to put into the top of the container so I don't have to squeeze the bottle!  She rocks!)

Lucas has had an easy week but we plan to have a bit of a lesson with D tomorrow, its going to rain so we'll be stuck in the indoor but we will survive! 

Lucas got shoes

I'm not having much luck naming my posts lately....

Today was a boring day but sometimes that is a good thing!  Energy level is going up, and I spent some quality time out at the barn tonight just hanging out and picking grass for Lucas.  (you know your horse is spoiled by your BO when she sends you back outside to pick more grass because you didn't get enough for him on your first trip!)

In other news Lucas got shoes tonight, and get this his farrier (who has done him for the past 5 years) said of Lucas' feet today "His feet are the best they've ever been!".  The farrier is not Lucas' biggest fan, Lucas is hard to shoe correctly and always needs extra time so this is a good complement from him. 

I'm hopefully going to get on Lucas tomorrow night for a walk - practice trail obsticals (we finally got a course set up outside)  Fingers crossed my back survives!

Slowly recovering

I was still very sluggish at work today but managed to meet all of my deadlines.  I have 3 hours worth of meetings tomorrow so I'm picking up some chocolate on the way into work so I can hopefully survive a in a warm dark room for 2 hours about our new computer program.

My RA is stuck in a bad cycle right now for me, I hurt and cant sleep so I take pain pills, they make me sleep and kill the pain but reduce my attention span to nothing.  They also make me so drowsy that the only think I can think about on a regular basis is sleep.  *sigh*  It makes work tough.  Thankfully my boss is understanding, and most of my inquires come though on email which makes it easier for me to concentrate on one thing at a time.

Lucas is good I went out tonight and took a ton of hair out of him, and we went on a walk to watch D clean out the turnout pens with his bobcat. 

And because I had a great weekend, I'm now paying for it big time.  Only slept about 4 hours last night (out of the 8-9 I usually get.)  Woke up from the 2 hour drug induced sleep to find out I had the beginnings of a migraine from clenching my jaw while I slept.  Its days like this I hate RA, why couldn't I have a nice weekend and be able to go to work like normal people the next day...  I'm back to bed again soon grrrrrr

Another nice day!

Got another quick ride in at 9am this morning.  We didn't do much, just trotting around and doing some changes of direction around the cones that someone had set out.  I did canter a couple of times around the ring but the first lesson was coming up to the outdoor then so I had to stop.  He was good, if tired and lazy.  I got to the barn before he got to finish all of his breakfast so I'm sure that didn't help.  (He gets fed very early on show days so I don't have to deal with a grumpy and hungry horse!)

Everyone came out to the barn today and rode, had a lesson and then we all had a big BBQ at 2.  It was a great time, but even with several applications of sunscreen I still managed to get too much sun and will have some red cheeks tomorrow.  It was good to see everyone at the barn again, probably the first time everyone has been out since the Christmas party and even then we weren't all trying to work horses!