Archive for July, 2009

Got our lead!!

July 29, 2009 at 8:39 pm · Filed under Daisy

Daisy has been getting better and better, but she still gets a little stiff occasionally, especially when we’re working for a while.  We had a lesson yesterday that went pretty well.  She was SO lazy!  I had to use my legs HARD for each stride to keep her moving and even then she didn’t feel like she was really stepping up much.  After a while we got a little more motion, though, so it went well.  We cantered our good way last night and she did very well.  Nice and pretty canter.  After our lesson, I hosed her off, we went for grass while she dried, I put linament on her hocks, then we went out for more grass :)   She was a happy horse. 

Tonight Iwent out and we rode again, but by ourselves this time.  I went in without my whip, though-I completely forgot it!  I knew this would be a good workut for my legs.  We walked for a bit then trotted for a while.  She did ok, but she was very looky.  I don’t know why-we were inside and there’s not too much to look at!  She started to listen after a while and she was going good, so I picked up a canter in our good direction.  She actually picked it up right away, even without a whip.  Very nice-relatively collected, and fairly round.  (For her this is good-she’s certainly not a Grand Prix type yet LOL!!!)  I brought her down after almost a whole time around the big indoor ring because I didn’t want to hurt her.  She was going good and she seemed like she wanted to go, so I tied the bad way.  She started by running into it-I brought her down before she picked up the canter because I wanted her to do it right if she was going to do it at all.  We went and asked again and she started to run again.  I brought her down again.  I asked one more time, and she picked up the correct lead the first time!  We cantered about half the ring.  She was a little speedy at first, but I got her a little more controlled with more collection that she has had on that lead in a long time.  We came down and I praised the heck out of her.  When she first took the lead, I looked down and checked liek 3 times-not believing that she actually got it.  I felt it-it felt right.  It was great!  When I brought her down, I even went up to some people I know that were watching and said “I know this is a stupid question and I don’t know if you werew even looking, but she DID have the correct lead just now, didn’t she?”  They confirmed it and I told them that it has been WEEKS since she’s been able to do that!  They were happy for us too :)   They had some six or ten inch x’s up and Daisy kept aiming for them, so as a treat, I trotted her over one-she was ecstatic.  She loves to go over things once or twice, then she’s done with the whole jumping thing.  I didn’t want her to actually JUMP so she didn’t hurt herself, but she really wanted to go over something so I let her trot it.  It’s funny that she acted like such a “big horse” after just trotting a little x.  Whatever makes her happy, I guess.  She’s so cute sometimes. 

Tomorrow I think we’ll take the day off.  I might give her a bath-she is SO grimey despite being hosed off almost every time we work.  She deserves the day off, though-she’s really working through this.  We’re still not going to do the next show in a week and a half, but I would really like to get to the finals at least-maybe even one more show before to try to qualify for a championship ride in this level.  We’ll see if I can find one before it’s too late to qualify anymore.

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Kathie and Kody at Practice Today

July 26, 2009 at 7:13 pm · Filed under Stable Stories

Kathie and Kody going up an obstacle

Kathie and Kody going up an obstacle

 

 

Jul 26 2009 - Kathie and Kody3

Jul 26 2009 - Kathie and Kody7

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Busy weekend

July 26, 2009 at 7:07 pm · Filed under Daisy, Stable Stories

This weekend I had a bunch of stuff going on-or at least it seems that way!  Yesterday I went and took care of Daisy and we rode for a while.  She was wonderful!  I warmed up inside for about 5 or 10 minutes, then we went outside.  I forgot to wear sunscreen so I was a little wary about going outside (I burn TOTALLY easy-I’m pasty white LOL).  Daisy wanted to go outside so bad, though, so we did.  She was such a good girl out there.  Beautiful, relaxed trot, great headset (some of the time anyway), and responsive to cues.  I was very happy with her.  She did spook, though, when a car started rigth behind her as we were turning a corner.  After that she was a little scared to go by the rails, but I made her walk the rail a little, then I got off and praised her like nuts.  What a girl! 

Today, Kathie, Diane, and I drove down to the eventing facility again to practice the cross country phase before Kathie goes down there for a show next weekend. They took Lucky and Kody-Lucky ended up just walking the course, but it was a good experience for him.  Kody jumped all the jumps they figured would be in her course for next weekend.  I got a few mini videos of them jumping a few, so I’ll try to post some pictures of them in a little bit.  He took everything like a pro.  It was great. 

I think I’ve decided to take Daisy out of showing for the rest of the year.  She’s still not right at the canter to the left, but I do have to say that her canter to the right has been fabulous when she does it calmly.  I figure that if by some weird chance she’s going great before the finals, I’ll enter her in one more show to try to qualify.  If not, I’ll maybe enter her in the final show, but not a championship class.  If I get a qualifying score in a regular class at the finals, I get to keep the qualifier for next year.  She’s such a good girl and she tries so hard-I can’t bear to make her do something that hurts.  I’m just itching to get back to work, though!!  It bugs me, but not enough to make her do it if she can’t.  I figure it’ll pay off in the long run.  Her shots are going good and she does seem to be getting better and better as the weeks go on.  I still have to call the vet to get some more Adequan and to see how he wants me to continue it.  I have a feeling we’ll be doing weekly shots for a couple more weeks then go to a monthly maintenance dose after that.

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Cool National Geographic Site

July 23, 2009 at 3:19 pm · Filed under Uncategorized

Hey guys-I just found this online and I thought some of you might be interested in it!  Looks pretty cool :)

http://www.bzzagent.com//p/6878427093/klkwid

It’s a National Geographic story about a guy alone in the wilderness living off the land.  Interesting-go check it out.  I’ll be following this one I think.

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Great Ride Tonight!

July 22, 2009 at 8:48 pm · Filed under Daisy, Jake

Daisy was really doing good tonight!  She was a little goofy-looking around a lot and trying to do her own thing.  Once we got past her trying to do her own thing, she did pretty good.  Her trot felt very good, even if it was just a smidge off still.  It’s hard for me to tell at theis point since it’s really just splitting hairs, but I think we’re back almost completely to normal if not completely normal.  I was going to try a canter tonight, but I wanted to end on a good note with that really nice trot so we’ll just try tomorrow instead.  I really want her to develop her trot, anyway-that’s really the important gait if you ask me.  Her walk has always been nice and a good trot leads to a good canter, so we’ll take it step by step.  I have a feeling that we’re going to show in that next one.  I’ll be more sure of us coming up soon. 

Jake is losing weight finally!  There’s still first and second dinner, but I’ve managed to get them down to about half the amount each and he’s finally getting comfortable with that amount of food.  He’s still pretty active for a guy that’s getting up there!  He seems happy and fairly healthy, but it scares me when he loses weight since he has had cancer.  You never know if it’s spread or what.  I’d have ultrasounds or something done to check, but he’s so full of fatty tumors and cysts that they’d find all sorts of stuff to biopsy.  That’s too much to put him through.  So far so good, though.  He’s still holding his own.  He’s really starting to look right, though-I can finally tell a difference for REAL!  Before, I would sort of see it and know that he’s losing, but it wasn’t for sure.  Now I can tell.  He’s laying with his whole body up against me now, wagging his tail ;)

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Daisy is Improving

July 21, 2009 at 7:49 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy

Daisy got her third shot today, but not before we rode.  I took her for a ride for about a half hour just at a walk and trot.  Her walk was great, her trot started off a little stiff, got better, then stiffened up again.  When she was going good, though, she was really great.  She wasn’t listening well and kept trying to fall off the wall, but ultimately I got her to do what I wanted and she did it well.  Once she started to stiffen up again I stopped.  We walked for a minute to cool down, then we spent some time socializing with some other riders.  We got back to the stall and she got a treat for being good, then I went and got Diane’s sister to help me give her the shot.  Her mare needs shots too, so I knew she would be a good place to go for a little help. I still want her head to be held when I give a shot because Ive only done this once before and it’s just a little safer this way.  I was glad Elaine came over because I was getting ready to give the shot and Daisy’s butt got tense.  Elaine said that when she gives a shot, it helps to smack the butt a couple times because that way they aren’t really expecting the shot, plus it numbs up the area just a bit.  I smacked her butt 3 times quickly and got the needle in with no problem!  Why can’t I think of stuff like that??  It makes sense!  Daisy danced around a little as I gave her the shot, Elaine fed her a carrot, then Daisy got praised again.  She was ultimately very good.  I put her back in her stall, she got to eat a bunch of carrots, and she was a happy camper. 

On a bit of a sad note, I haven’t seen Bandit’s bunny around for a while.  I think he’s still hiding out under the deck, but Bandit isn’t going to play with him all that much anymore.  I hope the little guy is alright.  I think Bandit may have scared him off for good, though.  I guess that’s kind of a good thing-if you’ve watched the video, you know that it might be a little hard on the fence ;)

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Busy Week! (Plus Dave Matthews Concert!)

July 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm · Filed under Bandit, Daisy, Jake, Uncategorized

It’s been one heck of a crazy week.  Work, horse, dogs, and the DMB concert have made it nuts!  Daisy is doing good-we have been working on relaxing at the trot so she has more swing in her back rather than the typical tighten up when I ask for contact thing we’ve been getting.  I haven’t cantered her for a few days in an effort to help the hock to heal.  I’m planning on cantering sometime this week, so we’ll see where we stand soon.  The trot has been better, though-she’s starting to accept it more and she seems to be relaxing. 

The thing that’s made the rest of the week a little nutty was preparing for the Dave Matthews Band concert at Alpine Valley.  Every year I spend quite a bit of time getting everything ready so we know who’s bringing what and where we’re going to meet, etc.  We head out there early, tailgate for a few hours, then head into the concert and have a great time listening to one of the best bands of all time.  This year was quite different. 

I won’t go into great detail, but every year I’m the DD, so I sober up as the concert is starting.  I hae 3 hours during the concert-sometimes more (this year it was closer to 4 hours), then I have another hour waiting for the parking lot to clear out before we can even move.  It works out very well.  It does require me to be responsible, though-I usually am, so it’s no big deal.  Well, one of us got WASTED off our asses (not me).  It made for a very interesting time.  At one point we even had security and first aid out there assisting the person in question.  I got to ride in the back with that person to a place they apparently call “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” where they put all the drunks.  LOL!  It was quite interesting.  I rode up there on one of the golf carts with a security/first aid person, the other person in question rebelling and claiming there was no problem (there was, though), and we dropped the person off  at Pee Wee’s.  The rest of us headed down to watch the rest of the concert-Dave, as per usual was great.  I think the best concert I saw with him was last year, though.  I got to see the whole thing then and it was just amazing.  Tim Reynolds was on guitar along with Dave, and the rest of the band was just ON!  It was great :)   This year was different, but memorable.  Next year we should be back to normal.  Hurry back, Dave!  I want to see that concert!! 

Alpine Valley-the stage from a distance and some of the crowd as the show was starting

Alpine Valley-the stage from a distance and some of the crowd as the show was starting

Bandit hasn’t been playing with bunny quite as much anymore, either.  I think the bunny was freaked out when Bandit almost caught him, so now he hangs out under the deck and Bandit just sniffs him through the slats in the deck.  Still cute, but no where NEAR as cute as those videos :)  

Jake is still doing good, too-he’s still a brat andstill demands all the attention and all the toys.  While Kathie and Mike were over waiting last night to go to the concert, we played with Jake a little and they laughed as he demanded attention and food.  That’s my little guy :)

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Trying to Get Back in the Game

July 15, 2009 at 9:18 pm · Filed under Daisy

I rode yesterday and today-both rides were pretty good. 

Yesterday we did a lot of walking and trotting, then I decided that I needed to ask for a canter so I could show myself it was still possible for me to get her to take the left lead without giving up.  I took the right lead first with no problem.  We cantered all the way around the ring and then some, working on collection and slowing down a little bit.  We then walked for a good two times around and asked for the left lead.  She took the right.  I brought her down and asked again.  Right lead again. We did the same thing 2 more times as she got more and more agitated with me asking over and over for the lead.  We asked one more time and she took it!  I let her have her head and she got to go as fast as she wanted as I pet her and told her how good she was.  We cantered around about three quarters of the ring then I stopped and we relaxed.  She got patted and loved up for a bit then we called it good. 

Today I rode again but we kept it to a walk and a trot.  Not bad-her trot was VERY nice by the time we were ready to quit.  She held her frame very well for quite a while.  She was a bit stiff, but still good.  I’ll probably try again tomorrow, but again only at a walk and trot.  I’ll probably give her a little more time before we go into a canter again, but I don’t want to wait too long.  Our next show is going to be the first week in August and I’d really like to go.  I’m not going to sign up just yet-I want to make sure she’s sound before I enter.  I’m really hoping that Adequan will help enough to the point where we can show the rest of the year.  If not, though, I’ll just hold off till next year and maybe do Training and First Level then.  We’ll see how it goes.  Honestly, I’m just happy that she’s feeling well enough to get back into a trot and be fairly comfortable! 

One more thing-The Dave Matthews concert is coming up this Saturday!  I can’t wait!!  It’s supposed to be a high of 79 and a low of 57, I think.  It’ll be a PERFECT show!  We go every year and tailgate for hours before the show.  We go to the show and sober up, then we head back out.  Hopefully I’ll get some good pictures out of it to post online :)   I still wish my brother could come with us, but I can kind of understand that Vanessa is about to pop and it would probably be a bad idea for him to be stuck at a concert with me while his wife is having a baby….   Maybe next year.  It’ll be 3 years in a row he didn’t come this year!  It’s just not the same without him and Vanessa there.  There’s so many funny stories from the concerts we go to every year at Alpine Valley.  More to come on that…..

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A Close Call For Bunny

July 14, 2009 at 7:23 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy

Last night when I got home, Bunny underestimated Bandit.  I let Bandit outside and Bunny was waiting for him in the back by the daisies in my yard.  Bandit rushed over there and Bunny waited for him.  Bunny darted one way to hide around the daisies and Bandit headed him off.  Bunny flew out of the daisies as fast as he could, but Bandit actually got his mouth close enough where I though he might catch the thing!  I’m sure bunny got slobbered on at least.  I’m pretty sure he was cleaing the dog slobber off his fur for the next hour or so while we didn’t see him. Bandit was looking everywhere for him, but he was no where to be found.  He finally reappeared under my deck where Bandit has been playing with him since then.  I don’t know if maybe he wised up, though, so maybe we won’t be seeing as much of Bunny as we used to. 

Daisy got her first shot from me last night, too.  I wasn’t really thrilled about giving it, but I did it!  She took it like a pro.  I had Kathie hold on to her head while she was on cross ties while I scrubbed her up with some alcohol then popped it in her butt.  She gave me a shocked look, but held still for it.  I can do this all day long to people, but doing it to animals is a different story.  I feel so guilty!!  LOL!  I guess I’ll be getting lots of practice in, though, so hopefully it just starts to come naturally.  We walked around and trotted very briefly after the shot-just by hand.  She had some grass and was happy.  It did look like she was still sore from the show yesterday, though, so we didn’t ride.  I’ll probably get on her for a little bit tonight if it doesn’t storm.  I hate riding during storms-one night I did that at Windance and I got off JUST as the lights went out.  Daisy got pretty upset at being in the dark and tacked up, but she was ok.  I’m glad I was off her at the time.  We’ll see how she goes tonight!

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Bandit is a Star-Daisy is Not LOL

July 13, 2009 at 9:50 am · Filed under Bandit, Daisy

The show went ok yesterday-for a horse that’s been off for the past 2 weeks and that hasn’t had any real work for that long either, she got a 57.8 on her first test.  We actually got two 8’s, a couple 7’s, a few 6’s, but our canters were crappy since she wasn’t right and she got 5’s on all that.  The second test she was really starting to get worse, so she didn’t track up as well and wasn’t as accepting of the bit.  Hopefully with the Adequan on board now, we’ll be back in business before the next show.  I’m really hoping this stuff works for her-I would hate to take her out of competition altogether.  I do think she can do this stuff, it’s just been a bad year with all her issues!!  Other than that, the show went without a hitch-everything was good. 

Bandit’s video is on YouTube now!  I gave it to someone at GSRAW and they posted it on YouTube and their web site.  Here’s the link to the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdBtJJYuAw  Who knows-maybe Bandit will become an overnight celebrity.  He can join the likes of the “talking dogs” and the “serious chimpmunk” (or whatever that thing was LOL!!)  As per a few people’s requests, I did submit it to America’s Funniest Home Videos.  I don’t think it’ll get anywhere, but I figured what the heck??  Who knows-I’ve seen some pretty stupid things win on that show!!  LOL! 

Daisy is getting her second shot tonight.  It’s going to be my first shot I have to give to a horse.  Should be pretty easy-It’s just an IM shot to the top of her butt.  I’m going to have Diane hold her for me while I do it, too.  Daisy is always really good for her shots, but I’m still not totally looking forward to this!!

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