Rest In Peace, T.J.

This morning my Mom's horse T.J. was euthanized. T.J. was only six, but he had Lymes disease which had gone neurological and he was very lame. Mom tried to keep him as a pasture ornament, but he just was not happy without a job. It was the right thing to do, but it still makes you feel sad. Sarah rode Werther today, she said he was a little stiff which probably caused by lack of turn out and riding because of the holidays and icy conditions. Sarah said she did a lot of lateral work, leg yielding, shoulders-in, ect. to get Werther supple. Then Sarah had Werther trot canter transitions to stretch out his back, and do a collected canter to help build muscle in his hind end. I have a lesson with Sarah tomorrow, I am excited to start working on flat work for it own sake and not just a necessary precursor for jumping. I think this is going to make me a much stronger rider. 

Hack

I was worried Werther would be difficult to catch this morning because I came out earlier than usual but he was very good, he is starting to come when I call him. I am sure he just wanted to get out of the cold weather, it was in the mid 20's all day today. Hacking was difficult today, my Mom had a lesson on Spike so I could not keep Werther moving and I had a really hard time getting him to canter on the right lead. He was rooting quite a bit today, Mom thinks maybe switching him to a rubber snaffle might help, Werther is in a french link snaffle right now. I had to get Andre to help me with the right lead, basically all she said was to "hit him until he belives you" and not worry about what lead I get. We did more canter transitions and he kept getting better, which I was happy with. Just as I was finishing up my ride the power went out in the barn, but luckily we have a lot of windows in our indoor so it did not matter to much. When I turned Werther back out we changed paddocks, TJ is now going out with Stoli and Werther is going out with Wesley and Vinny. I think Werther will like having more company.

I Love My Horse

Today I went to bring Werther in, after I walked a few feet, he actually came when I called him which he has not done before. After I got his halter on and gave both Werther and TJ their treats, I turned around to leave the paddock and I noticed the gate had swung open behind me. TJ was moving too fast for me and I could not cut him off before he got out the paddock. He started out waliking so I thought maybe I could catch up to him and herd him into the barn. As soon as I got out the the paddock he started trotting down the lane of paddocks. Luckily, I had my cell phone with me and I called my trainer Andre inside the barn and she got a groom to come out and help me. At this point, TJ was on the grassy lane on the left side of the barn in between the paddocks and the paved driveway where we pull up the trailer to load it. He started galloping and bucking up the lane, and sometimes turning and cantering down the blacktop. I was really sacred, I thought that A) he was going to run into me because he kept galloping straight and Werther and turning away at the last second. B) That he was going to slip and fall and I was going to watch him break his leg on the black top. Luckily, Jorge caught him. TJ is already extremely lame right now because of arthritis from Lymes disease, my Mom has already pretty much decided that she is going to put him down before she leaves for Thermal. I feel really bad for him, but it is better than living out the next 15 years being so uncomfortable and wild because he can't be in work. While all this was going on Werther was so good, he just stood at ate grass. I was afraid to move Werther because I thought it might rile TJ more. Werther was so good in his stall and cross ties, and was just so relaxed and calm when I rode him, it helped me to get my heart to stop racing, I had so much adrenaline pumping after what happened with TJ. I started out cantering on the right lead, it took two tries to get him to pick him up but once he did he was perfect. Lately when we have started cantering, he roots on the first stride, especially on the right lead, but he refrained from doing that today. He picked up the left lead on the first try, and when I switch directions and asked him to pick up to right lead again he did it on the first attempt. 

Back in the indoor

It is cold and wet here in Minnesota so we were back in the indoor today. Yesterday was really busy so Werther got the day off. We had to wait awhile to get started because Mom was having a lesson with Andre on Spike. Since we did not get going right away I struggled at the trot, Werther was very sluggish. I did several walk trot transitions and that helped a little. When I was getting ready to canter, Andre came in with T.J. to do some lameness evaluation and that distracted Werther a little as T.J. is his pasture mate. I started out on the left lead instead of the right, because Werther had more difficulty with that lead last time. Werther did not pick up the canter in the first corner of the short side, but I kept after him and he got on it the second corner of the short side. I did the rest of our normal canter work and Werther was very good, he had no problems picking up the right lead. I let Werther walk while Mom and Tom watched Andre trot T.J.. After T.J. was done trotting I asked Werther to pick up the left lead again which he did really well. I did a few more canter trot transitions and I was really happy Werther was still responsive after having more down time than usual. 

Hack

My older sister Katie and my niece Lily are coming in to town today so I had to go to the barn early this morning. That means I had to go catch Werther only a few hours after he had been turned out. T.J. was happy to see me, but Werther was not. Werther trotted a couple of circles around me before giving up and letting me catch him. Even though Werther could not see any horses from his stall he was very good, not frenzied as he was on Friday. I took Werther for a hack in the outdoor ring with my Mom riding Tryst. Werther was very good at the walk and trot, not at all distracted by the baby like he usually is. I really think I made a breakthrough with the canter transition. When I first asked him to pick up to right lead, he kept doing a hop step like he was going to break into the canter but then going back down to the trot, so I kept hands forward and used my stick until he broke into a canter about a quarter of the way down the long side from the originally corner I had asked him in. It was a very good forward canter, I even practiced doing trot canter transitions on the straight line going both directions. I feel like today was the first time he was actually listening to me instead of just agreeing to along with me. I wish Andre had been out there to see but she came out on Vinny just as I was walking out Werther. One more horsey thing tonight is the annual Minnesota Hunter Jumper Association Meeting. Mom, Tom, and Andre and I are all going, Diane Carney is going to give a talk on high performance hunter classes. 

Friday's Trail Ride

Friday was warm enough that I went on a trail ride with my Mom on Stoli and Andre on Vinny. Werther was pretty good for me to catch even though I went out to the barn earlier than usual. T.J. was hysterical in the paddock. T.J. is a huge moose of a warmblood and walked up to me almost immediately after I went into to the paddock, while Werther was studiously ignoring me. I gave T.J. a quick pat and then shooed him away so I could go about the business of catching Werther. T.J. decides to follow me, but because I shooed him away, all 1,700 pounds of him tries to creep behind me by following me a couple paces away. It is really funny to have a horse try to sneak up on you when they are that big. Werther was fine to catch, but then he was a pill when he got in the stall. Not many horses we inside so Werther got very worked up, walking in circles, whinnying, and even rearing a couple times to look over the top of his stall. I was not very pleased with this behavior, so I used a lead shank to make sure Werther would stand while I took off his blanket. Werther was fidgety in the cross ties but did not do anything really bad. When we got outside and I got on Werther he was still a little worked up when I started walking him, but once he realized he was going with Stoli and Vinny he settled down. Werther was great on the trail, we did walk trot work. After we were done I went into the ring by walking up the bank jump to work on my canter transitions, and Werther picked up the right lead on the first attempt which I was really happy with, but then when I changed direction he was reluctant to pick up the left lead. I did more canter transitions with him and he was excellent after that, even picking up the left lead on the straight line. After I was done I turned on the heat lamps in the wash stall and gave him a bath. When I put Werther back in his stall I took Wesley out and groomed him, Werther became anxious again without a horse directly next to him and not very many horses in the barn. I think park of the issue is the barn that he used to live at was at the Colorado Horse Park, where he was constantly surrounded by other horses. Does anyone have any advice as to how to reduce his anxiety on those occasions when I bring in him in early without having to bring in another horse to babysit? 

Wednesday's Riding Lesson

I am catching up on my posts, so as the title indicates this is from Wednesday's ride. They put new footing in the indoor the day before which was good but it was still a little dusty. We warmed up and did walk trot work on our own, Werther was good, my Mom was in the ring riding Stoli, I think Werther liked the company. The canter was better, it took me a couple tries but I did eventually get him to pick up the canter, and Andre did not have to get on him this time. I think Werther is learning what we want, now when I ask Werther to canter he is really difficult to get it the first time, and then all the other times after it takes very little effort, most of the time I don't even have to use my stick. I graduated from the pile of ground poles to a small cross rail. I was a little nervous at first, even though I have jumped much bigger. I always get nervous doing something new with a new horse, because of my C.P. I need to trust them that much more than your average rider. The best thing about Werther is as long as you maintain enough leg to keep him going he keeps a very consistent pace and is not inclined to take the long one. The first time I did not have enough leg and he broke to a trot. I was able to get the canter back though and continue. I am still working on perfecting my turns with him, it is hard to maintain the impulsion I need to keep him straight. I had more difficulty turning him down the line on the right lead, because it required that I support him with my left leg, which is the one effected by my C.P. I was really happy with my last jump, we had a decent turn and got the lead change very quickly on the straight line. Before I left I turned Werther back out, he is now going out with T.J. a horse of my Mom's that is recovering from Lymes disease. Werther seems to like T.J. well enough but I miss getting to visit with Wesley in the paddock.