Yes this is Seattle, but really?

The rain this week has been awful.  I know that in Seattle we have a reputation for the rain, but the reality is that it usually just sort of piddles and drizzles and is a whole lot of cloudy.  But not this week.  This week it has been dark and grey and cold and rainy.  I haven't been to the barn since Wednesday night because of work and I probably won't make it out until tomorrow, but Laura said she's doing a bit better and they are turning her out in the arena in the morning to stretch her legs.

Sunday I'm going to be giving the pony a kiss goodbye and getting on a plane for Scottsdale, Arizona.  Sunshine!  Heat!  Swimming pool!  For five glorious days, I will get a taste of summer.  Hopefully while I am there, the pony will get sound and will be able to start her training.  April is going to be an exciting month for the princess and I.  I can feel it.

I Heart My Barn

I just wanted to say how much I love my barn and my trainers and everyone there.  I may not have any best friends yet, but they are so incredible with the pony.  I got a text the morning the puffiness showed up "Your pony has a puffy LF and is lame".  Followed up with a text from trainer/barn owner that "Pony has been treated and is resting in stall"

I went out and visited El-Lame-O last night and she looked very cozy in her stall.  She's usually out at night and I don't know that I'm not attributing my feelings to her, but I swear she looked calmer and happier.  She seemed to be glad to have the company of her next door neighbor Knox who also has scratches.

She's going to be kept in for 2 weeks with only arena turnout.  Mentally this might be tough on her, though I've heard she just stands in her shed when she's outside anyway so maybe it's not that big a deal.  She will get to watch the other horses and will be kept warm and dry.  They are treating her foot and keeping a close eye on things.

It's kinda odd that the swelling isn't just around her fetlock, but is limited to one side of her leg between fetlock and knee.  She has an old (three weeks?) splint there but hasn't had any problems.  I haven't talked to anyone today about how she's doing because it's been *that* kind of a day at work, but I'm sure they would tell me if anything had changed significantly.

But I wanted to say publicly how much I appreciate my barn and everyone in it.  I know that my pony will be well taken care of and get what she needs.  I know that there are people looking out for her when I can't be there.  I will be interested to see what happens while she's inside.  It may be that because she's anxious, being inside with the other horses at night might work better for her.  I know that horses generally like being outside with room to move better, but I also know there's no such thing as *this works for all horses*, so I'm open to alternatives.  Of course, my checkbook would really prefer that she just stay outside at night.......

Lame! No, really.

Quick update.  Got a text from the barn manager today that the pony is lame on the same foot that had scratches.  Yesterday I had hosed her legs off, scrubbed them and treated the one with something called Iron Horse spray that the local tack store said 'should work'.  Today, foot is swollen and she is lame.  Barn manager gave her bute and I'm going to try and go out tonight and hose off the foot and treat with Desitin.  Poor pony!  I will try to take pictures if she's still swollen and gimpy.

Called the tack store to see if I could return the spray that I used ONCE and that may have caused my pony to go from normal with a few scratches to puffy footed lame.  Nope.  They said I had to contact the manufacturer.  Sigh.  Please, please, please...if you are a small business, please understand that you should think hard before saying no.  I pay higher retail prices to support you, but when you won't take back something that not only didn't work, but may have caused my horse a problem it doesn't make me want to give you my money.  I know it's hard when you're a small business but I have run many, many small businesses and know that when you have a customer who will spend money every week in your store and ONE TIME they want to return something that they used ONCE, you should just suck it up.  Okay, rant about tack store over. 

To cheer me up, I got my saddle fitter to send me a picture of the saddle I will be getting.  This one has red trim where mine will be blue.  So, imagine the trim in a lovely shade of royal blue.  So. Pretty.  I had a momentary panic attack where I realized that getting the blue means it could affect the resale value.  But then I calmed down and realized that I'm having this made for *me* and it's okay if sometimes you don't think about resale value.  From a fashion standpoint, this will mean the pony will need some blue items instead of pink.  But I love blue and she'll look great in blue so I'm okay with that.  Plus, it means I get to do more pony shopping this summer.

Hairy Pony Belly.  Somebody isn't getting worked very hard these days!

The Horse Eating Wash Rack

Tessa does not like the wash rack.  For a princess, she sure hates getting cleaned.  I have avoided even pushing the issue, but she has a mild case of scratches on one front leg and I wanted to hose it off clean and get a look at it.  So after our ride, when she was tired and sweaty, I put her in the wash rack.  She danced around a bit but settled down pretty nicely.  I ended up giving her an almost full bath.  I didn't scrub her hindquarters, but I washed her front feet and sort of washed her back feet.  I also did her girth area, mane and tail.  The only challenge we had was when she saw something scary (twice) and she decided to push me into the wall.  Her little brain turned off and she pushed into me.  The more I pushed back, the more she pushed into me.  Like a nervous kid looking for it's mommy.

I gave her a shove and an elbow and finally a kick with my boot.  She moved over, but her attention was still on the outside and what was going on.

So, for those of you who do groundwork and believe that the key to attention is to get the feet moving, what do you do when you're in an enclosed space (wash rack, trailer, etc.) and your horse is cross tied?  How do you regain their attention and get their mind back if, physically, it's not possible for their feet to move much?  When she ran over me, I just ended up needing to make myself scarier and bigger than what was on the outside.  I didn't do the worst job, but I don't think I got my message across.  Mainly because I'm afraid of disciplining horses who are tied.  I'm always afraid that if I get after them and they pull back, I will have created a horse who pulls back.  And I definitely don't want that!

So, how do you help your horse calm down when movement isn't the best option?

It's Always Harder with an Audience

I am a bit behind in my blog reading and writing.  I have a pinched nerve in my elbow (ulnar neuropathy at the elbow for you medical/google types) and have to keep my elbow straight for the next two weeks.  Which means it's a bit of a challenge to be on the computer.  And to ride.  And drive the car.  You don't realize how much bending your elbow factors into things until you're not supposed to do it.  Sheesh!

Yesterday, though, I had another appointment with the saddle fitter.  We were trying the custom saddle again to see why it slid forward.  Luckily, it turned out to be a simple human error.  When the saddle fitter had left it for me to try, she had the wrong tree in it.  Since one of the beautiful things about this saddle is the fully adjustable tree, she swapped it out in five minutes and tada!  Less slippage.  There was still some minor moving forward, but that has more to do with Tessa than the saddle.  The pony has a long sloping shoulder, a short back and is croup high and where the girth wants to sit is in front of her shoulder.  So I'll be purchasing one of those fancy girths like this one.

I don't usually ride in the afternoons, but Sunday afternoon was when the saddle fitter could come out so I waited until the afternoon.  Ms. Princess Pissy Pants was not happy to be woken up from her nap.  The barn was busy, with no less than three riders in the ring (we do NOT have a big ring) and all of them people I didn't normally ride with.  So of course, as soon as I got on, the pony balked.  And not just a little bit.  She was NOT having it.  She flung her head, she swished her tail.  I got off and did the ground work Linda had shown me last week.  Got back on.  Nope.  No go.  Even trying to move her in small circles was met with resistance.

My cheeks were burning.  Here I was, trying to check saddle fit, and I couldn't even get the horse to walk.  Tess, of course, could feel my hesitation and decided that even walking was too much for her.  So I got off again and lunged her.  She had a minor explosion, but then moved nicely forward.  Back on, no forward.  I'm kicking and sweating and pumping and cursing under my breath.  I wanted to crawl under a rock I was so embarrassed.

Finally, I sucked up my pride and asked for help.  I knew I wasn't willing to have a big fight in strange saddle with a crowded arena.  I also knew I needed to get this show on the road.  I was wasting my saddle fitter's time with having stupid arguments.  So I asked my saddle fitter to stand in the middle of my circle with the lunge whip.  She only had to threaten the pony twice.  It wasn't the most elegant of solutions, but it worked and we got forward again.  I am now trying to regain that swagger that I had last Friday for my ride tomorrow.  Using the power of positive thinking.....

Despite the pony's bad, bad behavior we did accomplish one thing.  To the dismay of my credit card, but with full support from my financial team (aka husband) I have ordered a saddle.  AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!  The commitment!!  I don't have a picture of the *exact* saddle but here's a version of it in black.  My custom version will have....wait for it.....BLUE PIPING!!!!  There aren't any pictures of one with blue piping because it's custom, y'all.  SWANKY!!!  The blue is in between navy and cobalt and should look AWESOME with the dapple grey pony.  The saddle is a Hastilow Deep Seat Elevation Concept (or something like that) in case you're interested.

The bad news?  It has to be made by the guy in England and then shipped.  It will take until July most likely.  So until then, I am looking for a less expensive hunt seat saddle that we can use for a few months and then re-sell.  Still, just knowing that I have a fancy saddle coming is pretty exciting and nerve wracking.  After all, this saddle cost WAY more than my horse did......

Sunshine, Shedding Pony and Mona Rides Like a MOFO!

Not much time to write too much, even though I can't stop grinning from ear to ear.  So here's the quick skinny.  I had not been to the barn since Monday due to work stuff.  We unveiled a new online store and everything went as wrong as wrong could be.  The usual computer mess.  So the pony had not been worked for three days.

It was sunny.  Finally.  It's been way too long.  I needed the sun.

So I get to the barn and throw the pony in the arena.  Snort, blow, gallop.  At one point, she is trying to do her OCD thing and only run the ten feet between the door and the corner and I step in her way. There was a definite "Oh crap" moment on her part, where she realized she was going to run me down if something didn't change.  I raised my arms (one conveniently holding a lunge whip) and Tess tried to do an about face.  Only it came out more of a face-plant.  She tried to turn around but she was going so fast that her legs got all tangled up and she fell.  Then she tried to get up as fast as she could and sort of half fell again.  Then she snorted and spun around and ran the other way, checking in to make sure I hadn't moved again.

She was puffing pretty hard even though she hadn't done *that* much running.  Probably a combination of scaring herself and working hard with her winter woolies still on.  Into the cross ties for a quick grooming session.  Five minutes later and I was wearing a sweater of white horse hair.  Glance at my watch.  Crap, my lesson starts in two minutes.  

She's still got big nostrils and is huffing a bit.  I saddle up and get to the arena.  Here's where it gets magical folks.  I did not lunge.  Yes, it's true.  My pony had three days off and I just let her blow a little steam off in the arena and then got on and rode her.  Hell yes, I'm brave like that.  A few times, Laura had to remind me to stop getting in my head and saying "Maybe you should have lunged her!".

We had a few spooks (sunshine creates shadows and in case you didn't know this, those shadows are horse eating shadows) and one time where she went left and I was still riding a circle to the right, but I somehow managed to adjust accordingly.

The lesson was spent working on trot, canter, change direction.  Forward, forward.  Using what Linda showed me last week about trotting tiny circles while reinforcing my leg, we got the most forward trot.  And then there were moments where her back lifted and her head dropped.  There were also a few kicks out and a buck, but they were in the middle of going forward.

What's up Mona Sterling?  Who's that MoFo riding large and in charge?  Yeah, bitches, it's me.  Mona Effing Sterling.  Am I kind of pumped up and sassy right now?  Oh, you better believe it.  'Cause I rode that pony without lungeing and I rode her forward and when she argued, I said "Oh no you did NOT" and we got down to business.

Coming in April ---  my quest to ride in the ENTIRE arena, not just 3/4 of it.  Also in April....back feet.  I'm tired of avoiding them.  It's time to conquer the back feet.

Shaggy, wet pony.  I hosed her off she was so sweaty!

Grass!  Sunshine!  Is it spring?!

Hairy girth.  Seriously hairy.

Now You Must Trot

"Now pick up the trot"  Linda waited.  I fiddled.  I squirmed.

"What do I do if she won't trot?"  I adjusted my legs and hunched my shoulders.  Linda looked at me like I had grown a second head.

"Just trot.  Just do it.  Don't adjust anything.  Don't change anything, just trot."

"But..."  Linda waited patiently, though her expression was pretty clear that there wouldn't be any 'buts' today.  I sighed and asked Tessa to trot.  She tossed her head and reluctantly slogged into a painfully slow jog, dragging her toes.  My pony has perfected the resentful trot, complete with tail swishing, ear pinning and the occasional head toss with dirty look.  She's an Arab so she can swivel her head and neck around to give me the evil eye, while still maintaining a painfully slow trot.

"Okay, now bring her to a walk and go back to moving her hindquarters.  Tap, tap.  Yes!  Bring her head around.  Remind her that leg means move. "

After a few tail swishes and a few circles of the shoulder, Tessa finally lowered her head and moved her hindquarters.

"Yes!  Good girl!  Now let her move forward and go right back to trotting."

Forward we went, into a marginally faster trot.  It was still slow, but it was almost a trot and not a jog.

"More trot!"

I squeezed and tapped and panted.

"When she is trotting, stop asking."

I stopped asking.  Tessa stopped trotting.

"Trot!"

I asked for trot and Tessa gave me the pony finger, along with a big kick and a buck.

"Now circle.  Back to the circle.  Tap, tap, tap!"

I tapped.  I asked.  I could feel Tessa's energy coming up as we went from walking the circle, to trotting it.  I kept the energy coming up as her head came down.  And then we were off again, trotting!  Two strides later and I tried relaxing my legs.  Tessa immediately slowed down.  I asked again and followed up with the whip.  I felt her body tense up for the tantrum.

"Circle her!  Inside leg to outside rein.  Stop throwing your outside rein away.  Bend your elbow, keep your hand soft and steady.  Don't worry about her head, just keep your hand near the pommel and let her come INTO the rein off of your leg.  Good girl!"

We circled again, the energy coming up even more and the submission coming faster.  We went back to trotting.  I relaxed my legs.  And for a few minutes we had contact, submission and a forward trot.  My hand stayed where it was supposed to and my leg moved her gently into the contact.

"That's it.  That's where you want her to be.  Just keep holding that outside rein steady and she'll come into it.  If she raises her head like a giraffe and makes that rein short, you just leave it steady and use your legs to ask her to come back into it.  Do NOT pull back or give that rein to her.  Let her find her boundaries."

And so we found some boundaries and we found a decent trot.  Then we did some cantering, but it wasn't good enough to write about.  Thankfully it also wasn't bad enough to write about.  She just wasn't in front of the leg enough and so we worked on keeping her in front of the leg when she fell back into trot.  I'm sad that I won't be able to ride again until Friday because I'm excited to put my new skills in place.  However, I'm super grateful that I have not one, but two awesome trainers to help me out.  They always have different perspectives and different things to offer.  And in April, the pony goes into training.  Yes, real training.  That's gonna be so exciting!!