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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Wings Finds a Home
I'm thrilled to report that She's Got Wings, one of my former fosters, has been adopted! Congrats to Susan on her adoption of Wings. Susan recently lost a special horse and in her healing, has grown particularly fond of Wings. I'm thrilled for them and I know that they will have many good adventures together. Yay!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Riding Roxie
I got on Roxie for the first time yesterday. She is still uncomfortable having her right ear bent when putting the bridle on, but aside from that, she was just fine tacking up. Dave held her for me for mounting. She was a little unsure of the whole standing still thing, as well as my legs being down so low on her sides. However, she quickly relaxed and stretched down into contact (yay) and we walked and trotted around the ring. It was no big deal.
I met a young woman a couple months ago at the Octoberfest horse show who had galloped Roxie during her days on the track. This young woman said that she was thrilled that Roxie had been retired to FFI and that she had been one of her favorites because she was a good horse and comfy ride -- "a Cadillac" she said. Its true from what I can tell. She has a big, long strides at the walk and trot. There is a lot of spring in her step. I'm looking forward to future rides!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
An Earful from Roxie
Roxie has been doing really well. She has a wonderfully thick coat (for a Thoroughbred) and has put on weight since we added a cup of Ultimate Finish to her feed each day. I'm really pleased with how she is looking going into winter. I'm also pleased to report that she is doing very well in her ground work and prep for riding. She is consistent on the lunge line (w/t/c in both directions) and works well in both the bitting rig and the side reins. She is really coming along nicely!
The only thing standing in our path is her ears. Yesterday, the vet was out to remove aural plaques (believed to be a form of papilloma) from her ears. This is typically a young horse thing, so we were surprised that at 6 years old, she had plaque in both ears. While the papillomas are benign, they make her ears incredibly painful and sensitive to touching. As you might imagine, this makes bridling an issue. So, yesterday we had them removed. I was originally planning to ride her today, but we'll see how she is when I get out there today. I do have a schooling bridle that is easily taken apart so that I don't have to mess with her ears. That may be the answer. I'll report back later today as to what I do and how it goes.
Jewel is doing very well under saddle too. The chiropractic adjustment last month has made a huge difference. She is really coming along nicely with a lot of power from the hind end. Right now, we're just doing strength building exercises. I started a little bit of collection work yesterday after having doing a few weeks of long and low work to build back muscle. She still isn't strong enough for a lot of collected work, but she can do a little bit at a time with frequent walk breaks to stretch and relax the muscles. I was quite pleased with her work yesterday!
Jewel is also looking great going into winter. She too has a thicker coat than usual. Hmm...are the horses trying to tell me something? I've given both of them a modified bib clip so help the dry a little faster after working. In the past, Jewel has been a little on the thin side going into winter. However, I think we FINALLY found a good combination of feed and fat supplements because she has PLENTY of excess weight right now. Of course, she did have most of the summer off due to my schedule, so that allowed her to just pack on the pasture. Oh well, I would rather have her head into winter being a little overweight (knowing that she'll loose some) than to have her be thin.
Other exciting news is that I'm planning to attend the schooling dressage show up at Foxton Farm on December 12. Weather permitting, I'll be heading up there to ride Jewel in a couple dressage classes. I'm thinking of doing Training 1 (in the side saddle) and Training 4 in the regular saddle. We'll see how things go. If you're there, please stop by and see us! :)
The only thing standing in our path is her ears. Yesterday, the vet was out to remove aural plaques (believed to be a form of papilloma) from her ears. This is typically a young horse thing, so we were surprised that at 6 years old, she had plaque in both ears. While the papillomas are benign, they make her ears incredibly painful and sensitive to touching. As you might imagine, this makes bridling an issue. So, yesterday we had them removed. I was originally planning to ride her today, but we'll see how she is when I get out there today. I do have a schooling bridle that is easily taken apart so that I don't have to mess with her ears. That may be the answer. I'll report back later today as to what I do and how it goes.
Jewel is doing very well under saddle too. The chiropractic adjustment last month has made a huge difference. She is really coming along nicely with a lot of power from the hind end. Right now, we're just doing strength building exercises. I started a little bit of collection work yesterday after having doing a few weeks of long and low work to build back muscle. She still isn't strong enough for a lot of collected work, but she can do a little bit at a time with frequent walk breaks to stretch and relax the muscles. I was quite pleased with her work yesterday!
Jewel is also looking great going into winter. She too has a thicker coat than usual. Hmm...are the horses trying to tell me something? I've given both of them a modified bib clip so help the dry a little faster after working. In the past, Jewel has been a little on the thin side going into winter. However, I think we FINALLY found a good combination of feed and fat supplements because she has PLENTY of excess weight right now. Of course, she did have most of the summer off due to my schedule, so that allowed her to just pack on the pasture. Oh well, I would rather have her head into winter being a little overweight (knowing that she'll loose some) than to have her be thin.
Other exciting news is that I'm planning to attend the schooling dressage show up at Foxton Farm on December 12. Weather permitting, I'll be heading up there to ride Jewel in a couple dressage classes. I'm thinking of doing Training 1 (in the side saddle) and Training 4 in the regular saddle. We'll see how things go. If you're there, please stop by and see us! :)
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