The Appy Diaries: Rion rides and other exciting chronicles...

Three horses and three exciting stories!

The view from "up there"

Brandy's best thoroughbred impression

I don't have a current "new" pic of Ari, so here's an old one.

 Rion is going nicely under saddle. It AMAZES me what people DON'T teach horses. Remember, Rion was started before I had him, I started him over to make sure all the right education was in place. The first day I rode him, I kind of slithered into the saddle from the tallest mounting block. I had gathered that he wasn't going to be too keen on me stepping onto him for the first time, but he had no problem with me just being up there. So I slid on him the first two times and then tackled the mounting issue today. It took... 10 minutes? To teach him to stand to be mounted the traditional way. Really? We skipped that step the first time around? Of course we did. 

Big smiles for our first ride!

 Anyway, in the space of four (three??) rides, we're walking and trotting, moving away from leg, steering at the walk and kind of at the trot (the round pen is too small to really do much steering at the trot), very responsive to "woah". His gaits so far are very balanced. He is on the lazy side with me on his back, but is much more forward moving while longing than he was, so I'm hoping he will not be a kickkickkickkick ride in the end. He was already more "in front of my leg" today. I will probably ride him in the round pen one more day then move to the arena for more space. YAY!!

Good boy! Lots of pets!!

Brandy and I did our third training together and finished with just one rail. We should have had a 38 in dressage, but mom forgot her test and went down the long diagonal instead of the short... OOPS. Oh well! Honestly, we probably got the better end of the deal because our first free walk was AWFUL. She was high as a kite in dressage warmup, she wouldn't hold still or steer, for the most part, and was just wound tight. I didn't have a chance to let her stretch because... well... she wouldn't... so our stretchy work in the test was just okay. Our trot lengthening was lacking but we got good marks early in the test. Overall I was pleased. In the meantime, I've ordered Brandy a Micklem bridle to see if it suits her delicate sensibilities better. I'd thought about trying Ari in one as well, so I can test it on both and then order one in each color if they're happy in it. Spoiled.

Also, I don't have a picture of Brandy and I doing dressage in our new duds yet. I've been wearing my new navy coat and white breeches and I think it looks snazzy, but can't really tell. Will have to try to remedy that.

Our stadium was not stellar, we had kind of a rushed warmup and she was still fussy. SHE was good, I didn't ride nearly as well as I did at Midsouth. We had a rail in the triple... lots of long approaches and time for me to mess up.

Good over the first...

Not the best pic, but I LOVE her shape and SCOPE in this shot!!

And I love this one, too!

XC was BRILLIANT! I think I said something like "XC runs like this one make everything about this sport worth it!" after we were done. It was not perfect. Far from it. But it was educational. We were lovely to 1, 2 and 3. Four was a combination, down hill, and she actually sucked back a tiny bit to it, so I landed and OFF WE WENT to fence 5, a double brush we've jumped every time we've been out since we moved up to novice. I wanted her to go on and gallop it, so I didn't quite re-balance enough to it, which caused me to start riding a little backwards... to 6, a big table, and through 7A and B, a chevron combo... where we got four in a three and still took off a little long to the second. OOPS. I fixed it to 8 and 9, two skinny brushes, then blaaaazed up the hill in the infield in another long gallop to 10, a little log. No problem there, and then my nemisis... the ditch and brush... it scared the hell out of me. I ended up simply NOT riding the last three steps, but Brandy jumped anyway, bless her heart, even though when she finally caught sight of the ditch (when she was in the air) she would have liked to put on the brakes, but scrambled over for me anyway.

LALALA... there is no ditch... LALALA

Up and over!!

She was great the rest of the course, including skipping right through the full coffin and down the bank into the water. The weather was perfect, overcast, coolish, but humid. She recovered quickly and we were about 20 seconds under optimum time. ATTA GIRL!

Into the coffin... she's no dummy... she knows what is coming...

DIIIIIIITCH!

Panthers reside below!

Brandy makes a splash!

Weee!

 

Last, but not least, Ari is back! Fitness wise, he's more than fine. We did 15 minutes of trotting over terrain today and he was barely blowing. We did a 2 or 3 minute canter at the end and he was hot but not out of breath. Thoroughbreds. Gotta love em. Strength-wise, he's definitely lost some ground. Unsurprisingly. I'm still getting the occasional "twist" in the left hind in the sand, but I'm hoping with more strength this will remedy itself. We can only wait and see. He did jump this week, just hopped around some 2' jumps, and he was fussy but willing (Micklem?!). The good news is that the "break" seems to have done us both some good, since my own balance, position and strength have gotten better, so his rampant head tossing is really easy to ignore and just put my leg on and send him forward. We'll see if maybe this breaks the cycle. It may just be him forever more...

Overall, a great July! Now, if only this heat would break for day or two so I can regroup and have a day without dripping sweat!

When dressage and music collide...

This is a crescendo:

It is defined as "a gradual steady increase" or "a climactic point or moment" and it's origin is Italian, meaning "growing."

How, you may ask, does this relate to dressage?

Well, I had a dressage lesson with Amy the other day. To the naked eye it probably looked like all we were doing was trotting around having an argument (Brandy and I. Amy and I don't tend to argue while trotting), with the occasional comment from Amy and the random exclamation of "GOOD!" or "THERE!" and a chortle of laughter from either one of us at any given time.

What was ACTUALLY happening is that we were trying to bring Brandy's dressage to the next level... you may remember me comparing Ari to a gobstopper... Brandy is not so much chipping away at layers as simply accomplishing one task and then adding the next and fighting things out until she decides that the "new" task is okay, also. Generally, it goes like this.

So, that is all well and good! Our dressage scores improve! We are competitive! Things are happy, pleasant and we're coexisting in a perfect little world!

And thennnnnn....

We go for a dressage lesson. And we hear that it's time to "ask for MORE!"

And this happens again:

And over and over and over again...

Until we have something like this... and it goes on, forever and ever and ever and ever...

And without a sense of humor and remembering where we came from... it would seem like a daunting, impossible and certainly not much fun task. But... overall, its fun to look in the rearview and see what we came from... but its more fun to look out the windshield and see where we're going.

Brandy is just a smart, opinionated, somewhat tricky little horse... but as we say, over and over again... "She jumps well, so it's okay!!"

The Appy Diaries: Day 2

First off, the new kid finally has a name, Orion. I'm calling him Ry, but Anita and Jerry may be calling him Ori. To each their own, at least he has a proper name now! 

Ry actually had the day off today, but I was talking with Jerry this morning and he was telling me how friendly Ry was when he had visited him in the field. Jess had posted a picture of me driving him yesterday and called him "My new love." Someone else, maybe Shannon? had said something about how attached I am to him already.

I, of course, get hopelessly attached to all the critters that come through the barn, but I guess the reason I'm liking him so much already is because of his personality. He's very curious, he always has a visible thought process going through his head- its fun to watch and see what he's up to. When I put the driving lines on him yesterday and asked him to walk off, he was VERY excited to show me what he knew. He drove right out the gate of the roundpen into the pasture and way polite and responsive the whole time (not to mention fancy! He points his toes when he's round!!).



He was standing about five feet away from the waterer yesterday staring at it hard. I'd propped the ball down for him, but it had popped back up, so I went out and pushed it back down to make sure he could drink. He took a long drink from the open side, then went to the other side and pushed on the ball. Drank from the open side, pushed on the ball... back and forth. He finally walked away with almost a shrug.




He's been a bit of a loaner in the pasture but buddied up with Pumpkin yesterday for awhile. They were both grazing alone at the end of the pasture and then decided they ought to go up to each other. They sniffed, groomed on each other a bit then walked off together and grazed. Shortly thereafter, Ry was laying down and having a good roll. He was obviously looking for a buddy to let him feel safe enough to lay down.

It made me think of the others, when they got here.

Paisley was so malnourished and completely apathetic to human interaction. We would feed her and go in to scratch on her and she would step away from her food like she couldn't even stand to be around us. She never did anything WRONG, but she had no desire to make friends, either. She was rideable, picked up her feet, stood in cross ties etc- she would barely take treats. She obviously had been treated badly and didn't expect anything good or plesant to come from people ever again. The real turn around I saw from her is when I was able to start trail riding her- it was the only thing that would get her to go forward, too, otherwise she would stand stock still or go backwards. The day I finally got her to CANTER, I cried. She decided to do it on her own, I was so excited!

Paisley's Craigslist picture, May 2008

 

Pai, Jan 2009, no longer apathetic to people....

Brandy was practically feral. She knew what treats were, understood what leading WAS, even though she didn't see the point of it, stood tied, and picked up her feet, which was great, but obviously didn't NEED or WANT interaction with people. I couldn't catch her the first couple weeks I had her. She had been started the year before- I think they said 30 days training but she'd bucked the kid off a couple times. When we went to see her it was quite obvious she didn't remember any of her training, she was wary of us, the saddle pad, the saddle... she had "wild eyes" and a glaring look. We arranged a 30 day trial on her so I could start her and see what we had. She came along pretty well but still didn't really seem to care for me or my plans at all. I rode her once or twice before our 30 days were up and when Anita called to say "It's day 30, keep her or bring her back?" I gave some really serious consideration to sending her back. There was nothing much about her that gave me warm fuzzies and she hadn't shown me anything to be excited about... but I still said "Lets keep her." There was a long time I didn't really like her that much, I'd say it was a couple months before I really started to understand her. She liked having a job (JUMPING!) and now she has the sweetest, kindest eye...

Brandy, October 2009, when we got her home.

 

 

Brandy, March 2009

August 2009, first 2' jump school!

Brandy first BN, Aug 2009

Shasta was a little different. She was actually pretty well trained, just hateful. She'd been living in a field for a couple years with two geldings and had no interest in human interaction since she had her herd. She would try to kick if you got near her, IF you COULD get near her. Something made Anita and I decide to take her and we loaded her up and brought her home. I put her in the roundpen for about five minutes when we got her home and out walked a brand new horse. She was sweet and met us at the gate- we couldn't get her turnout buddies out because she was SO in your face. She took to re-training quite nicely and moved along really quickly! She ended up being a lot of fun to have around... who would have known from the beginning!?

November 2009

March 2010

It should be fun to see what things amount to with Ry. I'm anxious to get on him but certainly don't plan to rush things!

The Appy Diaries: Day 1

My new project got home yesterday! He walked calmly, if slightly cautiously, onto the trailer. I liked his though process- he was obviously unsure and he just dropped his head, inched forward until he had one foot on the ramp and then walked right up. He backed off the same way, and didn't fuss at all off the trailer, just looked around, took it all in.

This was the "look" of the evening. Just checking it all out.

 I put him in the roundpen to show Anita how he moved and found him to be a total puppy. The biggest problem I had was keeping him away from me! I turned him out with his new buddies and he was totally non-confrontational. Everyone tried to get a response out of him and he didn't flinch!

I got him up today to work with him a little, and was pleased that he had good manners in the cross ties, picked up all four feet, was skeptical of flyspray but decided it wasn't so bad. Of course the FIRST thing I did after I groomed him was take care of that mane and bang his tail. It seemed almost criminal to cut the mane on an appy, but it didn't stop me! I think his tail will grow out thicker as time goes on, also. I cut his mane shorter and then pulled/scissored it to look more natural. I'm pleased with the result!

Before

 

After! It still needs some work, but didn't want to over-do his tolerance levels on day 1!

More about him:
He's a six year old appy, though I'm thinking app/TB, and it wouldn't surprise me if he were 4 or 5, either. His old owner had him about 2 years and he was started under saddle, lightly, when he was originally bought- walking in the roundpen. He bucked a few times with the owner and scared him. Owner hired a trainer who worked with him 5 or 6 times and never came back. I'm told he bucked the first time the trainer got on him and never again. He hasn't been ridden since then, but his owner did A LOT of ground work with him and his roundpen work is fabulous. He's very smart on the ground, he knows verbal commands for walk, trot, canter, woah and "easy."

I put a saddle on him today and he was obviously very comfortable with wearing it. No bucking or silliness when I did the girth. I bridled him as well, and he, again, knew exactly what that was all about. After a little more longing, I put the reins on the bridle and "drove" him, me standing by his saddle with my right arm over his back. He understood that very nicely, as well, we turned left and right and halted, made some circles, switched direction. GREAT!

I will spend some time in the roundpen with him, ground drive him and see if I can find what made him buck, but I'm suspecting that he just sensed his owner's timidness. He also has his wolf teeth and they were riding him in a tom thumb, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the problem as well. I put him in a happy mouth snaffle and he seemed pleased when I put it on!

In other news, I brought my gang to the beautiful Colonial Hill Farm for an XC school today. Amy had some of her students there as well and we all sat down for a nice picnic afterwards, thanks to my AWESOME barn moms! Everyone had a great, confidence boosting school and I wished I had something to ride!

Ari is still off and Brandy doesn't need to school this close to another event! I'm hoping Ari will be better for Poplar at the end of July, but if he's not, hopefully the new horse will get to make the trip!

Eventing=mental game.

This weekend (and all eventing weekends) are such a mental game.

Its taken me awhile to get here, and I'm sure it will ebb and flo, but you have to be absolutely, completely and totally 100% sure when you come out of the start box that you ARE GOING TO MAKE IT AROUND. And no one can make that happen except for you. (In the words of a different coach who I've met once and is stuck with me by proxy!)

I can tell you the first time I felt this was at Chatt Hills on Ari. I had an incredible warmup and I was READY when they counted me down. And we went out and we succeeded!

I was a little "hohum" when I came out of the start box on Brandy at Poplar. After all, it was Brandy. And it was NOVICE. And we were "so. ready." for training... I wasn't worried. And I landed on my head in a ditch. In some ways, that may have been the best thing that ever happened to me because it made me realize I have to ride every horse, every jump, every time, right off their feet. Fortunately for me, Brandy is pretty agreeable and when I give her a good ride, she gives me a great response. I will be interested to see how this translates over to Ari when he's going again.

At Maydaze, I was going to make it around. I wasn't going to fall off. The last two events, I've been wide awake at about 4:30 in the morning thinking through my course. No, it's not healthy, but it is what it is. I spend the time I'm laying awake visualizing a PERFECT jump through whatever it is that bothers me. I have to. Then when I get there, going 350 mpm or 420 mpm or whatever, I've already ridden every stride over and over to where it has become second nature.

This time, Midsouth, I was Going To Make Time. I know I've mentioned before that I have the greatest coach ever, but I think she has more sports psychology techniques than I've even began to understand. Either that or she's just tricky. We were chatting about making time and she said something like "That horse can gallop at 420mpm. You can maybe have 10 time penalties, that would be okay. But not a minute over like last time." Well, the weather was nice, my perchie is fit and by God, I know what 420 feels like, so I was headed out there to MAKE TIME.

Megan and I talked about wheeling the course but I just wasn't sure I wanted one more thing to worry about, so I didn't. I made time. Optimum was 5:15 and we swung through the flags at 4:54. It appears that this course was easy to make time on, so I don't want to get too excited, but when you start eventing a draft cross, you live with the thought that making time is maybe not always going to happen. Well, it did, this time! The other thing that made me want to make time is that we've discussed Brandy going Prelim and "time" is always one of the factors. My feeling is that if she can consistently make time at T, Prelim time is more in the realm of possibility. Is this true? I dunno... but if it helps me to make it around in time, I'll go with it. 

So anyway, after I made time on XC (yay!) and moved from 7th after dressage to 5th, I wanted more than ANYTHING to jump clean stadium. I always assume I'm going to have a rail because I'm just not that good 100% of the time. Of all the rails I've had, I would say I can think of 2 that haven't been (blatantly) my fault. I'm sure they WERE, just not because I jumped ahead or put them at some ridiculous distance or galloped at it with no balance. Anyway, I had tunnel vision going into stadium. We had an AWESOME warmup. Brandy was "on" and it was all just there. I knew my course, it was twisty and the ring was small and that favors Brandy's way of going- all the turns would help her sit up and have to listen. The small ring is great for a small, catty mare like her and the questions would encourage her responsiveness. Brandy is really good at tapping rails with her front and back feet and leaving them up- if she is going to take one out, its generally because she absolutely chests it. So, she tapped maybe the fourth fence and it just made me more determined.

Big names will always talk about how "time slows down" in stadium and I felt it happen. I had time to change the balance, change my position, ride forward, balance, leg on, WAIT and I didn't give up till we landed off the last fence, double CLEAR! I can't think of a time I've been more excited. Going double clear will ALWAYS be exciting for me. It seems that it happens so rarely but I hope it starts happening more. And I think its all about being "in the game" before you go in the ring. Riding every last step. Not giving up or just being passive or accepting a rail or two.

The other thing happened twice this weekend- once in each jump warmup. We have to do a very strategic  warmup for Brandy, because she doesn't wait around well. She either has to be stopped or is doing something that wastes energy. There is no passive walking. So usually, about 10 minutes out from my time, we start jumping and jump straight through. Then I stop, catch my breath, talk last minute tips with Amy, check girth, get a drink and then when I have two people in front of me, Amy says "Get your canter, and go jump that vertical/house/ramp/oxer again." I half heartedly pick up a canter that feels loosely related to the driving, balanced, forward, full of energy canter that I'd had previously and lope to the afore mentioned fence, thinking I'm going to get there just right. And then we trip over it or knock it over or I jump ahead or we have a stupidly short distance or something. Then Amy says "Now GET YOUR CANTER and do it again." and then I realize I suck, I'm never going to make it around, my horses put up with an ape on their back and grit my teeth, get the canter, have a great fence and go "I DON'T SUCK, I will NOT let my horse down and now I'm READY!" and off I go.

So, this weekend Brandy and I both had our head in the game and had a stellar weekend. A fifth place finish on our dressage score in the open division. Our XC felt just about perfect and we jumped some of the biggest jumps I've ever jumped in my whole life. Like this one:

Which, you'll notice, had an OPTION for training. Which was a log. And I'm pretty sure I was told that I WOULD jump the brush. And if I had a run out, I would attempt it again. So, no option for me! It rode well, Brandy cruised right to the base, hunkered down and looked at it hard and went "poing!" and jumped way up and over.

Also, this giant grey table. 

Photographers don't have pics up yet, but the ones I saw weren't all that great, which is disappointing, because I don't have much proof of how awesome our weekend was, besides the pretty pink ribbon holding its place of honor on my blinds.

And here's Megan, Amy and me, aka the Jolly Pink Giant, with the awards from the weekend. Note to self: never take a photo with two adorable, petite blonds. You will look freakishly huge and awkward.

Ari's injury turned out to be a GIANT abscess. I don't know who was more surprised, me or Dr. Peters, when he pulled the first nail and it popped through. Lest I hear "you couldn't figure that out on your own?!" one more time, the scope of this abscess was pretty impressive and we ended up xraying the foot to make sure it was all we were dealing with as it had the potential to have compromised his coffin joint. If you want all the nitty gritty details, I'll be glad to fill you in, but suffice it to say, this wasn't a normal "oops, Ari got a bit of sand in his tootsie!" abscess.

Ari having his foot dug out by the best lameness specialist in the country. Great. I'm pretty sure the words "Your farrier is going to HATE me." were uttered.

Fortunately, my farrier works with Dr. Peters and they were on the same page with how to treat the hole in his foot. He is currently cleared to go back out and back to work as soon as it dries out, which will hopefully be tomorrow morning. Ari has been a trooper in the stall all week. I just found yesterday that the natural calming supplement "Vita-calm" has a really good effect on him (it's tryptophan based, so basically he's in a turkey-coma.) and he's been on that the last two days to keep him from spinning in his stall. We're all much happier this way.

And here's the champ herself, observing XC after she was done for the day. I'm pretty sure she was saying something to the effect of  "I did better than that. Amateurs."

Poninelli

Everytime I post a project horse prospect on my facebook, my brother says "I'll give you $100 for it. I swear. I want to co-own a horse with you."

I explained to him that co-ownership involves expenses. He decided, instead, that he would be an investor. So, he will invest 1/4 of my new horses purchase expense in hopes to double his money. (Which I will then, likely, steal to re-invest.)

So begins the adventure of Lauren, Vince and Anita's co-ownership of a cute appy gelding who will probably end up being named Poninelli.

I made a video when I went to see him, but my STUPID PHONE didn't save it, so that is all I have! I will pick him up next week when his coggins comes back.

He is VERY sweet on the ground, good in the roundpen and green broke. He's been ridden a handful of times but he doesn't seem like he's going to be hard to restart. He's SO people oriented! He's 6 years old, 15.3 and has lovely conformation and balance. He is a nice mover- nothing ground breaking but very cute.

He has big hooves to fill as, assuming Ari has a long layup, he will take his spot in the riding roster.

Name suggestions are coming in right now. I'm liking the "cities in Arizona" suggestion from Nancy, with Sedona, Tempe, Winslow and Hayden at the top of my list. (Mostly Sedona, but Winslow reminds me of Murray and Hayden is just too perfect because I would LOVE to name a horse for my dear friend David Hayden.) I also liked "Weather Dot Com" and my original pick was Connor. Anita won't let me pick a name until she meets him, but suggestions are appreciated!

AAAAAAAAND someone just suggested "There's an App for That." Which MAY be the winner. Barn name Android??  

Other excitement:
I got my new dressage coat! It fits! And it looks really nice! And it's machine washable! And its lined in grey! And the coat itself is navy! And I really like it!

I put my WHITE BREECHES in my garment bag. I feel like I've lost enough weight to wear them. We'll see when I get them on my body.

I also got a new XC shirt. It is not the color pink I love so much but it's technical fabric and isn't awkwardly short.

I stepped on the scale this afternoon after declaring this week a "dieting washout" and deciding to restart after the show this weekend... and found that I'd dropped below my goal weight! I've officially lost a little more than 30lbs. And that is WITH eating a lot of bread and ice cream in the last two days. Amazing.

Ari was Lamer Than Ever today. Which caused me to have a minor breakdown. Somehow, when I talked to Anita, I was quite calm about it. When I talked to Amy, she caught me at the worst of the onslaught of "omg my horse is so lame I don't even know what to do and I might just dieeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!" Probably NOT what she signed up for, but she did manage to talk me down and remind me that the lamer he is the easier he will be to diagnose. I just can't wait to get him up to Hagyard.

Stuff and things!

Ari's appointment is at 2 on Thursday, he would appreciate your good thoughts and my wallet would appreciate them, as well. Unfortunately, when you're as "in tune" with your horse as I am, you go with your gut feeling a lot, and my gut feeling has not been telling me the greatest things, so... lets just hope it all goes well.

Ari's enthusiasm for going back to work is overwhelming.

 Hagyard is an amazing place- Ari will be seen in their new Sport Horse Facility. He's going to be staying at Saddles and Sheets, where hopefully he'll be much happier than in a stall at the park. I asked if I needed to bring him hay and they laughed. He may not want to come home with me!

Other than that, Brandy and I had a... good...ish... dressage school today. Training Test B's movements just come up fast and that is hard for her. BUT she did all the things she was supposed to do, she just got a little flustered by the "lengthen, stretch, working, lengthen, working, HALT!" I think it may be in my best interest to do some of my trot work sitting. We'll see!

I had a lesson last week, Brandy seemed a touch sore in her right hind so she wasn't jumping as "bouncy-like" as she normal does- she was still game- OH was she game- but just not as sproingy as normal. I DID, however, knock another silly goal off my bucket list- we jumped upright barrels. In the middle of a combination, no less. It was the second fence of a one to a two stride line and I felt like she hunkered down so low in between that I was eye level with the pole on top of the barrels! Eek!

Aside from that, I have my "kidlets" 3 days a week from 9-1 at the barn. They're working hard this summer and having fun. They're all riding an "extra" horse for more saddle time and today they even swapped horses for a minute after their lesson was over.

Olivia on Murphy, Anna on Snickers, Tori on Jazz and Amanda on Major

We'll get them on each other's horses for a lesson, one day soon. :)

On Friday, I made them clean tack before their show on Saturday... four times I was asked "Why do we need a bucket of water to clean our tack?!" Oh. My goodness. REALLY guys?! REALLY!? They DID all get their bridles back together this time, so there's that.

We went to Walnut Trace and had an excellent day. We ended up scratching before XC because of the rain, but Amanda was leading her division before dressage with Tori in second. (YAY!) Snickers got BOTH leads and got a little bit round at the trot! Nancy and Amanda had a great move up with Ben and Jazz and Kelly and Tori both are looking more and more ready for BN. Shannon is getting itchy to move up to 2' with Pumpkin and I think he's totally ready- now we just have to get Shannon more saddle time and she'll be ready, too! Anna had another nice school at BN. What a fun day!

Hiding out under the judges stand, waiting out the rain!

YIKES. The weather is coming!

Adult Kidlets and drafty crosses.

ROUND pony!

Course walking!

Ari update

Seems like I never updated what was going on with the one-eyed wonder, so let me fill you all in.

Dr. Wooten came out two Tuesdays ago and localized his lameness to his ankle or foot. We blocked the foot and he was sound, so we decided to inject his coffin. I had thought the lameness was "high" as did a few others, so I was interested that his foot blocked, but I'm not the vet!

So, secondary to the lameness in the foot, Dr. W thought he may be having some issues with his suspensory (left), as he was dragging his toes, which is normal, but I see him so often, I wasn't sure if it had progressed to a point of abnormal. He suggested icing and surpassing (a topical anti-inflamatory) the suspensory for a week. Just in case, I did both.

After a week, I was to begin light riding again and just "see what we had." I rode him that Tuesday, in the grass, and thought "well.... better... but not good..." So, I iced him again, turned him back out and asked Amy and Megan if they'd look at him on Thursday when I hauled Brandy over for a lesson. Amy watched me trot two steps and said LAME. I kept trotting hoping she could help me pinpoint it, but it just wasn't apparent, though we all agreed it was a "swinging" lameness rather than a "hitching" lameness. Amy even got on and trotted him around for me to see. So... he's turned back out.

I buted him the last three days to see if that would show any improvement, but when I longed him today he was worse- although it seemed to me to be pretty clearly in his stifle- so I don't know if thats my over-active imagination or if possibly the bute loosened up the muscular pain which allowed me to see the mechanical problem. I did put a call into my chiro, just to bounce the situation off of him.

My plan at this point is to bring Ari with me and Brandy up to Lexington when we go for Midsouth. I will have him examined by Dr. Peters, Amy, Stacy and Megan L's favorite vet in Lexington. I'm hoping they will be able to eyeball him and pinpoint it rather quickly, though I may be just holding on to blind optimism at this point. He will be turned out the rest of the weekend at a layover facility so he's not making himself crazy in a stall on asphalt at KHP.

SO... think good thoughts for my boy... I'm hoping it will be good news! 

Goals have to be slightly unrealistic, otherwise there's no point, right?

It's always good to have a friend who is constantly supporting your goals, pushing you a little harder than you push yourself and challenging you to reach a little higher than you normally would. The same one is usually the one to give you a lift when you most need it, or a smack upside the head when you're being irrational, and let you feel sorry for yourself for long enough- then kick you in the butt if you go on for too long. She'll gripe when you need to gripe and cheer for you when you're down and snark when them moment calls for it. She will pump you full of motivational sayings and inspiration even if she doesn't believe in them herself at the moment to make sure YOU have the best ride of your life.

Yep. Friends like that are invaluable.

The last words I remember hearing before going into the start box at May Daze and that I left chanting were Megan's: "Fight for it." And sometimes that's all you need to hear.

Who'd I miss?

Okay, I had several people yell at me for leaving them out of my cuteness overload post, so here are the auxiliary cuties in my life!!

TINYPONY! Oh... wait...

Okay, yeah, that's better. KATE WOOTEN! Kate and I met many moons ago because we both kept falling off of our horses at events. And then, the next year, we both had new horses. And we stayed on. And we went to horse shows. And occasionally, we even won ribbons! Now, Kate and her company, English Saddle Fit, is my title sponsor and one of my bestest buddies!

I can't believe I left my darling Jess out of the first post, but I haven't seen her in so long it's like she's abandoned me completely. Hopefully she'll be home soon (to be my boss) and I can continue torturing her and her sweet pony, Gracie. Gracie was another CL find (or Kijiji if you want to be technical, but who's counting) who has turned into a super special, very talented little gal. I call her my red Ferrari, she's so much fun to jump, and then she turns around and teaches Jess and is oh, so kind... but kind of annoying, all at the same time. Jess will, someday, do a BN and Grace can't wait!

Amy, Me and Anna

Anna and Smurf in action

Of course, Amy and I are fabulous, but Anna is fabulous-er. Anna not only owns Murphy (the OTHER Anna's current mount) but also introduced me to Amy and much of the eventing scene in Middle TN. One of my first friends when I moved to town, and now following in MY footsteps at my (and her) first real job at Southside Animal Hospital, Anna and I just seem to end up in the same place at the same time a lot. And I'm glad.

And then, there are these guys. They make my world go 'round. Literally. Need I say more?