Free Friday

No work today, so I spent a long time at the barn in the afternoon. I cleaned and oiled tack, washed brushes and boots, and did horse laundry. Werther has been really good, he has been really round in his topline, but he is also going very slow, I need to work on impulsion. My focus the past two days has been transitions and my equitation, mainly moving my elbows and sitting deep in the saddle. I also spent a long time grooming Wesley, he was happy for the attention. He is still not doing very well, his left hind is stocked up as well, and the has some swelling on his stomach. He is however, still eating and drinking well, and all body functions seem to be working. Dr. Sarah is going to come out and evaluate him on Monday, but I don't see this thing ending well. I'm kind of at peace with it right now, but I know when it actually happens I'll be devastated. I've decided I don't want to be there when they do put him down, I would rather think of him the way he is now. Even though this is incredibly hard, it is not sudden, like a young horse with a broken leg or colic you expect to have in your life for a very long time. The girl who owned Wesley is a few years younger then me, a former boarder. I asked my Mom to talk to her dad, so she knows the situation and can come out and see him if she wants. I think if I tried to talk to her, I'd just start crying, and it isn't the kind of news you want to send someone over the internet, so it is probably better this way. 

Friday and Saturday's rides

The guys pulled Werther's mane for me and clipped his ears and nose. He doesn't look quite so much like a backyard horse now!

I think I must have hit bottom on my lesson on Tuesday because things seem to be improving now.  He was still a little difficult on Friday, but I was able to get him to walk around  the ring once both directions with his neck exactly where I wanted it. I rewarded him by letting him canter nice and forward and did a few lead changes, which he was very pleased about. The biggest issue I am having right now, is that Werther likes to think he cannot go forward and in a frame at the same time, and I have to convince him otherwise. Today he was just excellent, I was able to get him quickly in a frame and stay there without a whole lot of matinence.  Sarah kept telling me was to let him fill up the outside rein. The main thing is pushing him away from my inside leg, because he want to be lazy and fall in rather than stay straight where he needs to be straight and bend where he needs to bend. We did some lateral work a few leg yields and shoulder in. The shoulder in was much better, I think I have a better idea of getting my hands in the right place so I can get the bend thorough the shoulder and not overbend in the neck. We worked on the sitting trot for a little bit, that was really challenging to me, because years on huntseat riding to me I need to be tight in my leg and hold myself into position. Now, with dressage I am being told to be loose though my leg and that looseness will allow me to stay with the motion of the horse, that is a hard thing for me to trust. We worked on my seat at the canter too, I'm used to wanting to get automatically up in half seat, but I am slowly reschooling myself. I talked to Sarah about doing some shows this summer, she said they do about 2 a month in the summer and tend to stay local, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa which would suit me really well.

Bath

No riding today, the AV guys had the truck and trailer in the indoor because they were hooking up the new camera system in the new trailer for the drive to Arizona where Mom and Andre will layover for awhile before going to thermal. Since I did not know this was happening and I was already at the barn I brought Werther inside and gave him bath. Giving a bath to a horse in Minnesota in January seems a little counter intuitive, but our barn is heated to 50 degrees, I had the heat lamps on and the hot water running, so Werther was quite comfortable and I was practically sweating. Werther looked much better after getting his bath, it was nice to see his socks white again. I put a scrim and cooler on Werther and left him in the wash stall under the heat lamps to dry, he was so pissed he was inside, he would not stop pawing and had his head flung up in the air. When he was about 90% I stuck him in his stall with hay net and his attitude improved by leaps and bounds. 

PS. We got Werther's blood work back and his iron levels are now within normal range but his magnesium is still low. Has anybody else had a horse with this problem? Werther gets really good alfalfa hay and we have him on a magnesium supplement. 

Sunday Visit

Quick trip out to the barn today, Becky came over with a girl who currently works at her boarding barn to interview for a grooming position. Tom is no longer with us, so my Mom is trying to find someone before she goes to show at Thermal. I groomed Werther and Wesley, Werther's scratches are greatly improved. I was going to take some pictures with my camera but the battery died. It was nice to spend some extra time with Wesley, I don't want him to feel like Werther takes up all my attention. I worry about Wesley with his melanomas too, his condition is stable right now, but I don't know for long that will be it could be years or only weeks. When I rode Wesley he really took care of me and gave me a lot of confidence, I just want to make sure I return the favor. He is going in tomorrow to get this tumor biopsy done so they can make a vaccine from the tumor cells which they inject into him and is supposed to help reduce the tumor size. We had some more leads on Dressage trainers, Dr. Sarah recommended a person, and a woman my Aunt Karen used to ride with gave her a name as well. Debbie was also going to ask a trainer who works with the Leatherdale's, a local high end breeding barn. 

Mud King

So when I got to the barn yesterday, I didn't see my horse, but this mud creature stood in his place:


So needless to say, I put him in the grooming stall with the vacuum and got out every curry bush I own. Tom told me that Werther and Wesley were playing very hard outside, bucking, rearing, ect. I think they were fighting out out to see who would be the king filth, Wesley is the reining champion. Although Werther tried his best, he did not beat Wesley, when I took Wesley to college with me in VA he would be orange about 90% of time from rolling in the red clay mud. After vacumming Werther, I moved him to my grooming stall on the other side. There Werther could not see the other horses that were in, but he could see the horses outside. Werther has always been very social but today he got really amped up. Werther put his head up like girafee, whinnying, pawing, and his whole body was just vibrating. So I decided to stick Werther on the lunge line, he did not buck, but he ran pretty hard. I wasn't really sure if I should get on him or not, if I didn't have CP I don't think I would have had any qualms about it, but with my disability I have to be very thoughtful about the situations I put myself in, and make sure I am not taking any unecissary risks. So I called Andre to see what she thought, and she said not to get on and she would ride him the next day. So I spent the rest of my time out at the barn giving Werther a bath, it took two soapings to get the majority of the dirt out, but he still was not close to show ring clean.