First field trip

First, don't forget about the side eye contest! There are almost a dozen entries so far, and the winner will be chosen from the top three so there's a big chance of prezzies still. #loveprezzies

Secondly, Opie went on his first field trip yesterday. It was...a mixed bag.

I convinced BM to go to the park with me on one of the three nice days we're getting this week before the return of snow and winter and gross. I wanted Opie to go with a friend for the first time to give him a confidence building experience. Also I didn't want to listen to him scream the whole time. One of those things may have factored in more than the other, judge as you will.

casual side eye while sporting fresh blu-kote on his hip

After last week's super successful trailer loading, I was feeling pretty confident we'd have a relatively smooth trip to and from the park. False.

We got Opie's pasture mate and sacrificial trail buddy loaded up first on the driver's side as he's quite a bit bigger. Opie took a hot minute to think about getting on before calmly following me up. He then immediately flew the fuck right back out for no discernible reason, bashing his hip on the divider on his way out. Rinse and repeat half a dozen times while we tried to lure him to stay in with cookies and grain, but every time someone so much as twitched in his periphery, he was violently outta there. He even snapped the chin buckle on his halter cleanly in half while yanking the lead rope out of my hands.

We finally took Mo out and put him away because while the poor dude was trying his hardest to be good, you could tell Opie was understandably setting him on edge and it made no sense to melt his brain. While BM led Mo back into the barn, I took Opie over to the driver's side and asked him to follow me up--which he did, and then stood there trembling but on a slack lead as I stuffed snacks into his face. BM walked back out and was like, "Uhh...?" I dunno, BM.

Another barn mate pulled in, scooted past the trailer ninja style, restocked my cookie supply for me, and then BM went to work on latching the butt bar behind Opie. She strolled around the parking lot behind him for awhile before working her way up to the ramp and silently dropping the pin in. Opie still seemed on edge, but hadn't made any sign of wanting to vacate the facility so she quickly brought Mo back out and got him (grudgingly) back on the trailer.

i'm skeptical of you sometimes too, dopie.

We were both on edge about getting them off, but they'd ridden quietly over and didn't seem at all frantic once we parked. Helmets and gloves on, I unclipped both horses at once while BM stealth mode dropped the ramp and butt bars. Opie stayed quiet so she was able to come up and grab Mo while I backed Opie off without much more drama than our practice runs. Phew!

Opie tried to drag me around a bit once off instead of grazing, but he seemed most interested in trying to steal treats out of the dressing room while I got him tacked up. At my "mounting block" (ghetto step stool), he walked away as soon as I put my foot in the stirrup. I simply hopped down, led him back around, and he was like, "Oh, right. This is like at home. I stand while you get on and I get the cookie." This was something I was curious to see how it would play out off property so it's good to know cookies still carry weight.

From there, we set out across the road and into the woods. Opie immediately took the lead. He doesn't get upset when he has to follow, he just has such a naturally huge, swinging walk that he usually ends up out front. Fortunately, he loves adventure time and willingly marched on.

about that bulging mid-neck even with a long rein.
the struggle is constant.

He was hesitant about going downhill, but with minimal encouragement he was careful about walking down. He wanted to trot or canter up the hills, but listened and kept it to the walk every time. Both things more experience will help with. We're not exactly rolling in terrain at the barn.

He did need Momo's lead over surface changes. He did okay for the first road crossings with the lines on the road as he'd previously trail ridden on those, but with the unlined black asphalt, he needed Mo--who was having his own conundrum being dumb-struck by a kid on a swing. Or just being dumb, jury's out. He also needed leads over a bridge and was a little worried about the weird noise, over a water run-off that he adorably very closely watched where and how Mo trundled across and then copied him exactly, and into the water though he followed perfectly willingly and tried to have an unauthorized swim.

he should be way over towards the bridge like mo as the
water drops off pretty steeply directly to our left

He didn't care about bikes, a crane surrounded by work trucks and people climbing everywhere (you can kind of see it in the background above), car traffic, or pedestrians. He did care about two St Bernards we saw in the distance, and it was the only time I thought he might try something stupid. I've passed these dogs a couple times before with Bobby and they're super quiet and well behaved with very conscientious owners, but they do kind of look like strange ponies. He got tense and tried to break into the trot a couple times, but he came right back every time I asked and kept it to a little jig step here and there until they were out of sight.

Mo, meanwhile, was behind us losing his shit though not necessarily because of the dogs. He was pretty sure this was the stupidest hunter pace he'd ever been on and could the walking please be over with now. Opie never fed off of him though which I love as all my other horses could turn into serious assholes when someone else went off.

Opie saw a building off in the distance as we were crossing a field and called out a couple times. We joked he forgot Mo was behind him, but he was obsessively looking at it like he thought it was a barn. It was also super windy and we were walking in the direction of the big show barn further down the road so maybe he caught a whiff of horses and was sending out an S.O.S.--Save Opie Srsly.

needs saving

I couldn't find my regular lead rope in the mess of throwing everything in my dressing room to get the fuck out of the barn parking lot before a certain someone realized he was locked in for good, and since the chin clip on his halter was broken I had to have BM hold him while wrapping him to go home. He was fine to graze next to Mo as long as I was next to him as well, but every time I walked away he'd stop grazing and stare after me. It was noble and majestic staring, but when I took my phone out he gave me the above pose. I'm glad he was looking to me though. I want him to consider me an acceptable substitute to his horse friends as I'm the only thing he's going to get at shows.

i judge your friend on the daily, dopes.

Getting them back on the trailer, we loaded Mo on the passenger side first then again had to wait a minute before Opie decided he would follow me up. Once on though, he gave no signs of drama and I shoveled handfuls of grain into both boys while BM lightning speed locked them in. Unloading back at the barn, he walked off cool as a cucumber. I guess the passenger side of the trailer is just a no-go, though there's going to be lots more repetition about loading on the driver's side regardless. I absolutely cannot have a horse I can't get on and off by myself, and our first show is in May.

Minus the trailering, I was really happy with his first outing. He got to go for a trip with his friend, did a relatively relaxing (though there was much teeth grinding and sucking on his tongue in times of stress--more on that in another post) yet engaging ride with no drama or fights or bad things happening, then got to come home. Hopefully with lots of that on repeat he'll get better about the trailering. Of course now I have to convince BM she doesn't hate us both and that coming for trail rides with us is so fun. Three more hours down for our trail riding goal, twenty left to go!

Will do side eye for prezzies

Behold!

#judgingyou

I've noticed an increase of side eye being thrown around the blogosphere since I bought Dopie. I'm not sure if it's because everyone's horses are down to throw some serious shade lately, or if I'm simply more cognizant of it now that's it's a permanent fixture on my own sass master's face.

side eye from day one, even while snooting things he should not be snooting.

So in honor of all things side eye, I'm putting on a mother fucking contest!

Why? Because it's the end of February, the weather is shitty, and nothing new or exciting is going on in my horse's training to otherwise amuse anyone. The prizes are mind blowing:

jk, they're not really.

Up for grabs is a bag of horse cookies (which I will gladly exchange for something sugar-free if your pone needs it), and a pair of shark socks in honor of Opie's teeth. Also because who doesn't love shark socks? And that's it. I'm poor and boring, and all you're doing is taking a picture of your horse so deal with it.

How this will go down:

• Share a picture of your horse's best side eye. You can email it to me (starkeycarly@gmail.com) or tag me on instagram or facebook. Just make sure I confirm that I've seen it so it doesn't accidentally get skipped. 
• The contest ends Sunday night. Next Monday, I'll post all the entries and let readers vote on who their favorite side eye is. The top three will then be entered for a random drawing for the prize. I'd like to say I'll be doing something exciting to randomly pick the winner, but chances are I'll just use an online randomizer. 

it's never ending

Go forth and be judged!

Death Box Training

Am I the only one who borders on paranoid about the dangers of trailering? And I don't mean the endless possibilities of death by road accidents. I'm talking being crushed, trampled, or otherwise battered while loading or unloading horses into tiny spaces with questionable evacuation routes.

Trailers are the worst, you guys.

even if they hold cookies, they may also hold monsters

With a predicted high of almost 70* today which meant for sure all the ice on the parking lot would be melted, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to work on trailer loading with Dopes.

When I picked him up at the track, his trainer told me he'd never been on my type of trailer before (a straight load two horse with a ramp), but he walked on with a little coaxing and trailered the twenty minutes to my barn without apparent issue. When I went to get him off, he was reluctant to back. He eventually crept backwards, but once his hind feet hit the ramp he launched himself out.

Fortunately, my trailer is extra tall (bought for the giant Bobby Magee) and Opie is extra short so no heads were harmed in the making of bringing Opie home, and once off the trailer he immediately came to a halt, but I knew for sure this was going to have to be addressed.

I love trailering out to the park for trail rides, and I love showing when I have the opportunity--both things I do alone. One of my goals for the year is making Opie a one man show trailer friendly citizen, and being hesitant to load or bolting off the trailer do not lend themselves to that.

there's been construction going on at the neighbor's house right
on the other side of the arena--way more interesting than the trailer!

Armed with pockets full of peppermints and a chain shank and longe whip just outside the trailer should I need to go to either of them, I brought Opie over to check out his ride. There was much snorting and side eye being thrown around at first.

"da fuq is this game?"

I started off by just walking him forward to see what I was working with. He followed me willingly until his front foot stepped on the ramp which shifted a bit as it wasn't completely on level ground and he tried to make a run backwards. I instantly sat on the lead rope to stop him (and was smartly wearing gloves as well), and we had a Mexican standoff wherein Opie may look like a donkey, but Carly Always Wins. As soon as he took a step forward I released the pressure and shoved a cookie down his throat.

He tried wiggling sideways as his next evasive maneuver, so I finally grabbed the longe whip for an arm extension to ask his butt to come forward instead of over there somewhere. Whip in hand, he got the hint and without even having to tap him with it he followed me right on. I shoved MOAR COOKIES in his face, heaped the praise on him, and asked him to back.

He started to step onto the ramp a couple of times, chickened out, tried to go over me instead, got smacked in the chest for that, and finally committed. It wasn't the launch of his first experience, but it was pretty frantic. I doled out another cookie and took him for a walk to have a graze and take a breath.

it was mostly snorting at more things than grazing.

After he'd calmed down a bit, we repeated the whole shebang. He walked right back on without hesitation (with whip in hand), stood more quietly this time, and then backed with a little more thought to his feet. It was still quick, and he was still throwing his head up, but it was on a slack lead and he didn't look quite so bug-eyed about it.

Another cookie, another walk and graze, and back to the trailer.

I didn't have any expectations or plans beyond just getting him to walk on and off with me with neither of us dying this first session, but since he was being so good about getting on I decided to see if I could get him to walk on by himself. I've been subtly sending him forward away from me in every day things since he got here. Send him into his stall, into the wash rack, his pasture, the mounting block, etc. That sounds easy, but he was super confused about what the fuck I wanted from him when I first started and would balk and stare at me. He's a pro at it now, and I sent him into the trailer as if we did it all the time. He strolled right on up and stood while I latched the butt bar and put up the ramp.

locked (in) and loaded

I came around to the front to stuff cookies into him and try to reassure him he wasn't going to die.

"PRETTY SURE I NEED MORE COOKIES."

"PRETTY SURE WEAVING IS THE BEST ANSWER HERE."

He started weaving almost immediately, but I made him stand on there for a couple minutes anyway. He didn't try to make a run for it while I dropped the ramp and butt bar (PSA: Tying is the last thing I do when loading and untying is the first when unloading. Do not break your horse's neck by having them tied at incorrect times. That makes me nervous about the death box as well.), and waited while I came to the front to ask him to back.

Third time was the charm as he still threw up his head, but he stepped back without trying to come forward first and kept to the ramp all the way down.

arthur volunteered to help by laying across the ramp and lending
moral support, but i shooed him away and found him ready to captain
the ship should he be needed. 

I let him be done there and stuck him back in his stall to finish his breakfast hay before I made him do real work.

t-shirt weather in february! opie is thrilled!

We'll obviously do a few more sessions before show season starts up (as always, check out the tentative schedule on the side bar), but I think this was a great start. I wasn't sure just how much of a mess he was going to be, but he exceeded expectations. Cookies for everyone!

Deep breaths

To no one's surprise--not even my own, although there was definitely that honeymoon period of wishful thinking--now that a certain stunted grey horse is starting to get new muscles, and become comfortable in his routine, and is being asked to do real grown up horse work, a whole new side of Opie is being revealed.

Don't get me wrong. He is still very small (which doesn't have much to do with anything, I just like to make fun of him), and his tantrums are hands down the least impressive I've dealt with from all my past horses, but holy shit can this horse annoy me.

the extent of his naughtiness, but his neck is the exact length to fling his head
directly into my face and he does a lot of neck flinging. little fucking cobra.

We've had three or four rides in a row now that have been a lot of teeth gritting--or grinding on Opie's part--and deep breathing to stay in touch with my inner zen.

Friday was our first lesson, and I was glad I had the opportunity to let BM get on the week before. Being able to say, "You know how he does this." or for her to point out, "The way losing his shoulder makes him feel like that." is a big help for me. The focus for the lesson was the canter with the walk and trot work in between being there as a "Can you please chill the fuck out and get the fuck over yourself with maybe a side of stretching your neck one centimeter?"

We started with the left lead which Opie usually picks up without difficulty. I was able to bounce questions off of her on pace and some other things I wasn't sure I was doing right. Since I have such a hard time processing a stream of instructions as they come at me, she simplified the rebalancing and half half work to simply hold two, release two. It can't get much more remedial than that, but How TBIs Affect Your Brain Cells is a post for another day.

Using my body (mostly my shoulders as I'm still in half seat for the canter) definitely got him slowing down and starting to shift his weight back, and I was able to tell the difference when he was going correctly to when he was coasting along on his forehand. That seems like it should be easy, but he's so light in the contact that he's very much unlike Bobby where you knew he wasn't working over his hind end because he was yanking you down into the ground.

would prefer to fling himself bodily into the incorrect lead than walk.

To the right, she had me thinking of getting out of the way of Opie's giant right shoulder by sitting more to the outside. That's been working fantastically, and while he's still not a hundred percent in picking it up the first time, it's been a lot easier.

Doesn't sound there's any real problem there? There's not. It's all the in-between that's been driving me fucking crazy.

better fling my fucking head around because Reasons.

Typical of a young OTTB, he gets to do the cantering and then the cantering is all he wants to do. Whether it's anxiety or anticipation, we've been focusing on making the walk and trot breaks all about relaxation. I can pick my reins up and it doesn't mean I'm about to ask you to canter. I can give you a longer rein and push my hands forward and I'm not asking you to speed off. I can put my leg on and it's not a cue to go.

I don't want to get into a pattern of picking fights with him like I did with Bobby because the baby Jesus knows we lived for fighting with each other. However, there's a space between being too passive and being too aggressive and its trying to wave me over from the "You're being walked on by this baby horse" abyss. Does he deserve a pat and a neck scratch for whipping his head up, gnashing the bit, and trying to lunge into the canter just because we passed through a corner? I don't think so.

I finally gave him a five second Come to Jesus Carly during yesterday's ride after one such incident, and wouldn't you know--all of the above came to a screeching halt. He curled up and went into his fake frame, but the trot was beautiful and rhythmical, and I was able to actually work on getting him to take the rein out without all the ridiculous dramatics. At the end of the ride I had a horse in my hands with the best stretch he's offered so far.

not stretching, but still cute.

This morning I walked him for ten minutes before giving up and pulling out the longe line and side reins. His back was locked up, and he was twitching over every noise and paying attention to everything but me. The longe was exactly what he needed. He got some stupids out, but was able to end with his focus on me and a quiet trot. When I got back on, he was in the mindset to work.

I did only one canter to the right, but he picked it right up without fuss and gave me one whole lap of a balanced gait. I let that be that as he also then went right back into the trot on a long rein without trying to scoot off or fling that fucking front end around.

I switched his bit again to a loose ring with a half moon mouth piece. It's hard to tell what he actually likes or not. If he's being a pissy pants, he's going to gnash his teeth with anything. If he's being relaxed, he doesn't do anything with his mouth. I'm on eggshells with his mouth anyway as he's got a couple of craters going on in there right now (which seem to be healing great, by the way--they look gnarly but healthy) so I feel bad for him. Plus he hasn't been floated yet (and won't be until his gums are fully healed) so who knows what else he may have going on inside there.

is your mouth open because your teeth suck or because you're just an angry beaver?

So: gnashing teeth, yanking the reins, being a venomous snake with his head and neck, trying to burst forth into the canter at every opportunity, and/or refusing to take the contact are what I'm working with here.

Are they the end of the world problems? Are they any different from any other baby or green horse problems? Are they problems he can't be trained out of? No, No, and No.

DOESN'T MEAN I STILL DON'T WANT A PERFECT BABY HORSE AGAIN.

we end every ride with a perfect baby horse so do i really have any ground to stand on?
no. but bitching is part of the training process, pretty sure.

Can-can (or can't) canter

After Dopie's training/"getting to know you" ride, I gave him Saturday off. He'd worked all week, and since he's just the sleepiest I figured he'd appreciate the break. Hubby and I slayed all day instead, getting a ton of shit done most notably of which involved not getting sucked into a time vortex while down at his parent's house. I swear they exist in their own universe; you think you've been there for an hour and poof! Surprise, bitches, two years have passed.

I did get a ride on Sunday for which Hubby was kind enough to be dragged along to. I've got social media to run here after all. There's only so many of the exact same head shot of The Snoot even I can take.

Opie's gelding soul mate--who he has not been turned out with since the first month he was here, but whose existence Opie still worships--was cooling out in the ring when I finally retrieved my horse from Hubby who had gone out to get him and then disappeared on a trail ride armed with nothing more than a halter and lead rope. This ended up being a really annoying distraction for the first half of the ride until Wym was finally turned back out.

only one baby scream when he heard wym walk down the aisle though!
it's about to come out of his llama head here.

We keep getting these weather swings where it snows a lot, then warms up and melts everything, and then freezes hard without the benefit of snow cover so everything is sheets of death ice. Unlike most horses that get sassy when the temperature dips, Opie seems to get sassier with the upswings.

He started off with a huge, swinging walk that felt like enough of a muscle warm up that I rolled with BM's advice to disperse the canter throughout the ride and asked him to step right into the left lead. That involved some hilarious dramatics.

this is him bucking and me trying not to laugh at him too hard

He thought he was very wild and crazy. Unfortunately for him, porpoising into transitions is frowned upon so after a few more neck flings and leaps through the air were shut down, he had to deal with a normal horse canter transition.

okay, it was still maybe a little enthusiastic 

I have mixed feelings on the canter. I gave him a few weeks off of it because it was the cause of a lot of drama--the transitions weren't great to the left, he didn't want to pick up the right lead, and the canter itself was too big and unbalanced for our narrow arena on a horse whose self preservation instincts are absolutely not on point yet.

While the kick in the ass by BM who reminded me the only way the canter was going to get better was to canter the horse, I also think he came out better for the break. He's a little stronger, a little more aware of his moving parts. I think in the long run this horse is going to have a really fabulous canter. Probably that's just because I already think he's the cutest though. He was being naughty for BM while I was watching her ride, and I was all, "WHO CARES SO CUTE PERFECT TEN."

a little less racehorse and a little more dressage horse would be nice

My struggle is my own head. As always. I think I take lessons more for brain training than horse training.

I have in my head this idea of the canter I want. It's a schooled horse collected canter. The canter of horse whose had years of dressage training, and whose ass is both trained and fully equipped to handle the work load. It's been so long since I've ridden any other canter that I'm not a hundred percent sure what canter I'm supposed to be getting from Opie. BM told me to work in half seat in the canter for now as Opie's back gets stronger. Opie offers me up a big track canter, I get into half seat, and my brain goes in track brain right along with his. I set the reins on his shoulders and let him do the work, the end.

stirrups set at shorty height from BM's ride for better half seat stability

Obviously that's not what BM was trying to get me to do. I'm still supposed to be trying to put a half halt through, still supposed to be working on getting him slower and working over his hind end more. Instead my brain checks out and we cruise around in too big of a canter for what the current goal is. I know getting back into the groove of weekly lessons will help. Some of this baby horse stuff is coming back naturally, other things definitely are not.

We've had two rides since Friday, and in both I made sure to drop the beat canter sporadically throughout. He had some big outside distractions on both days, but I was pleased with his mental effort of staying with me. He wasn't always completely tuned in, but I was able to bring him back without much difficulty at all.

#workingonmyfitness so hopefully my fat roll stops impeding me from sitting
the fuck up straight while posting. 

BM also wanted me to work on trying to get him to follow my longer reins down to lengthen his neck. That was a definite no for the start of both rides as Opie wanted to either make a run for it or curl, there is no in between. Then I could get him slow, but his back felt tight to me and I wasn't confident I was doing the right kind of slow.

On Monday morning I shifted back and forth between a bigger trot and the slow jog, and eventually he started softening his back, but I didn't get any stretch at the trot. On Sunday, he did manage to offer up a few strides here and there where his neck wasn't completely cramped.

plenty of other things to work on here, but look-his neck comes out of his shoulders
and doesn't just end part way!

We have so much to work on that I want to shove it all into each and every ride, while simultaneously having brain melt over trying to do more than one thing at a time. I'm hopeful Opie's mouth will be good to go by Friday so I can get some rider feedback on the canter. His gums looked pretty okay for the abuse they endured when I took a brief peek this morning. I'll give them a solid flush tomorrow just because I'm nervous about anything getting stuck in the holes as they heal up, but so far everything looks fine.

We're halfway there

Sing it, Bon Jovi, you fabulously feather-maned heart throb.

But also it's in regards to Opie's dental work.

remember this gloriously awful mug?

I didn't get any gory pictures like some of you weirdos may have liked because it turned into a three man operation, and my extra height over Dentist's assistant meant I got to be the Dopie shoulder rest.

Dentist warned me that this could either be really easy--they'd be shallow and he could just pop them out--or it would involve a lot of cutting and blood. BM and I were like, "LOL it's going to be the latter just because he belongs to me." Yeah, it was.

working on the first tooth.

Opie seemed to take his first hit of sleepy drugs well and was soon dragging his lower lip on the ground. Dentist got his scapel and got to work on the first one (the little nubby teeth in the front row). Opie was instantly like, "NOPE." They added the twitch, and Dentist managed to get the first tooth out in a couple of pieces without much issue, but the second one was in deeper. Opie wasn't loving the twitch--he seemed more distracted by it than anything--so they ditched that and opted to add a little more sleepiness on board.

Our barn gets dark when there's snow covering the skylights like there has been lately. For tooth two I held the flashlight which would have been a good opportunity to try to shove my phone in there for pictures, but I was also on bloody scapel holding duty which left both hands occupied.

Tooth three was the big problem. Dentist said it had fused to the jaw which involved crunching and blood and gore and Assistant and I both grimacing and refusing to look while Dentist told her to hold the flashlight steady and I tried to both hold Opie's head up high enough for him to work and not let him throw it too high. It was a hot mess, but he eventually got it cut free.

ewwwwwwwwww.

He let Opie be done there so I'm not sure if he actually got the fourth tooth out while I wasn't paying attention, or if it's still in there. Honestly I got distracted by blood and homeopathic remedy talk. Did you know imitation vanilla on a cotton ball or gauze held against the gums is supposed to help sooth the pain? He also told us a story about a horse that had a lot of scar tissue in its mouth that an old cowboy softened by wrapping a bit with pork skin and leaving it in the horse's mouth. The salt was supposed to soften the skin. Dudes, so distracted, couldn't focus on anything.

i also got distracted by this corgi playing ball, and for that
i'm not sorry.

He'll back in two to three weeks to give Opie a proper float since clearly he didn't want to follow all that with rasps. He said the gums should take about ten days to heal up, and despite the possibility of there being a bit of ridge where the one tooth was really in there, there shouldn't be any issues. Opie should be able to go right back to normal food along with a few days of Bute to help with any soreness.

Opie, for his part, immediately went to scavenging the second he was unclipped despite Dentist being adamant on the No Food rule while waking up from sleepy drugs. I'd gotten there early to get in a ride since I wasn't sure how long he was going to be out of commission for (we'll play it by ear...or mouth?), so he only got half his hay and grain before I stole him away, and then only had time to finish the other half of his grain before Dentist arrived. I stripped his stall while he was "waking up" mostly to get rid of all the blood before an unsuspecting stall cleaner got to the crime scene, but it didn't stop Dopie from trying to shovel shavings into his dripping mouth.

there might be one nugget of grain in there, you never know!

He finally took the most half-assed nap ever while Dentist did two other horses, but by the time they got to the third, Opie had peed and was starting to half-ass weave so I kicked him outside.

not at all a sleepy horse.

Bit-wise, Dentist was surprised that he stuck his tongue out with the french link, and thought that him reverting to keeping his tongue in his mouth with the single joint might have come more from pushing the tongue back than him actually liking it more. I don't know what to think. Opie is generally so quiet in the contact that he hasn't seemed to care one way or the other about what's in his mouth.

already back to business

He'll obviously get at least a couple days off, and we'll see how he looks and feels from there. In the meantime, Hubby got a ton of media from our ride this weekend so I should be able to eek out one riding post this week.

Feel free to ask questions about the procedure. I'm sure I missed a lot that he did tell me, but if I didn't think to ask it myself I'll be sure to ask next time he's out! I think this shit is pretty cool myself if exceedingly disgusting.

All the little things

Whelp, it's only been approximately eight thousand years (or five months, same thing) and one cancellation due to a gimpy LF foot, but I finally got the lesson train rolling again.

Farrier was nice enough to poke around Opie's tender tootsie Tuesday morning on the grounds that "If I was a hugging person, I would hug you for actually training your horse to not be an asshole for the farrier." To which I was all, wow Farrier, your job must really suck because ground manners are life and I just assume everyone else lives by that rule. He was, of course, actually sound that morning and has been since, but he did hoof test a little tender in one particular spot. Farrier pulled the nail there so that in case there's a latent abscess it will have a place to go. The consensus was probably just bruising though, and if he continues to be too tender to deal with the frozen ground we'll give him some pads.

the cutest penguin around.

On to the lesson!

As planned, I had BM get on him for the first ride. I found this to be a huge help with Bobby who could look easy from the ground while you were actually working your lady balls off to keep him from spiraling apart. I wanted BM to get a baseline feel for how Opie's body parts actually moved and know that she would have an idea of what I was talking about during lessons when I was having a problem with something.

you can thank emma for these pictures as my phone was buried in my pocket with
my hands until she texted me mid-ride. it was so fucking cold i only got a few though.

She gave me a lot of good stuff, brought to you by my fave: bullet points!

• He has a good walk, better still after a a few transitions to loosen up. 
• Agreed he needs to use the base of his neck and stretch down and out better. Thought he was probably galloped in draw reins as he likes to default to that signature curl. 
• Slow down the trot. Once he learns to slow down and shift his weight back, he'll lighten off the forehand and it will make it easier for him to use his neck properly.
• He's light in the contact--but he's either light and lovely or straight up pulling you out of the saddle, there is no in-between.
• He's sharp off the leg, but maybe too reactive. I think BM had a harder time with this because I ride in spurs every single ride and she only uses them when she thinks a horse needs a corrective schooling. She's stronger with her leg than I am because of it, and I think Opie was kind of jumping to obey quicker and more reactive than he does with me. Simple difference in riding styles though, not worried about it. 
• He gets hotter off the seat than in half seat which is weird because jockeys aren't exactly known for urging down the stretch with their seat bones digging into a horse's back, and neither of us has a particularly driving seat. I mean, let's be real, I live for a slow, collected trot or canter. We'll stick to canter in half seat for now until he's stronger.

i didn't say they were good pictures. i was huddled in the corner
and not moving for fear of losing my small bubble of heat.

These are all for the canter--the main reason I wanted her to get on him:

•  If he loses balance, back to walk or trot and try again. He doesn't have a real half halt so there's no re-balancing within the canter yet. 
• Zero tolerance policy for a bad transition. Don't want him to learn that running into them is okay, and even if I don't ask perfectly, the level of drama he's giving is not okay under any circumstance. 
• Scatter the canter throughout the ride, don't just follow the w/t with it and end there. Don't let it become A Thing. 
• When trying to get the right lead, he forgets he knows how to do anything--suddenly doesn't know how to move off the right leg or that he can bend right. Once he gets it though, it's better than the left lead.

the elusive right lead

angrily trying to yank BM out of the saddle instead of
picking up the right lead. such sass, much drama.

Overall, her impression was that he's going to be a fun, easier-than-Bobby horse and what more could any rider ask for? He's far more forgiving in that he can get upset over something and throw a tantrum, but once you move on, so does he. The ride doesn't have to end because his brain quit working for the day like a certain big bay moose we all knew and sometimes loved. 

He doesn't have any glaring issues beside the standard green, young OTTB problems with balance and strength. 

My homework is: counted walk; work on as long of a rein as I can at as slow of a trot that he can manage without dumping onto his forehand; and lots and lots of canter throughout the whole ride.

the morning ended with me chucking my gloves at this asshole's
head to get him to stop standing here weaving and screaming because
momo was being ridden and all he was left with was a stupid pony
and an entire bale of hay. his life is the worst. 

Cue maniacal laughter

I'll have you guys know I have been keeping my shit together so well lately. My horse is lame-ish, but that's fine.

NO ONE IS PANICKING.

EVERYONE IS CALM.

be like momo. he's calm even when his face is being eaten.
(they're besties, i promise.)

We've had one of those obnoxious winters so far where it's been really, really good at getting cold, but it hasn't been so great about snowing. It will warm up-ish for a day or two, rain, and then BAM BITCH--freeze solid overnight and turn everything to icy, deadly mud ruts with no cushion.

Opie came up a little foot sore the other week and while I was hoping it was a quick-acting abscess, Farrier agrees that it seems more like stereotypical bruising. Which is worse. Because that shit takes forever to heal up. She'll be out tomorrow to take a look at him to double check, but it's been a really exciting time of packing his feet, giving him Bute if he seems especially ouchy, and nailing those straight lines at the walk and occasionally trot.

It's been so cold though that missing out on real training rides hasn't been too much of a downer.

don't be like me. always wear your helmet!

We did, however, miss out on game night and our first lesson of the month. He's sound-ish, but I want BM to be able to get on him and ride him with no limitations, so that's been pushed back indefinitely. Fucker.

In other news, I was out at the barn today to do my due diligence--walk my horse in straight lined laps of the ring, and deliver him a 5lb bag of carrots in hopes I can teach him to smile--when Opie decided he just really looks up to Indy (both metaphorically and literally as I'm pretty sure Opie could stroll unhindered beneath Indy's belly) and flopped his dead fish tongue out of his mouth.

NO. STOP.

BM suggested a bit change so I swapped his french link out for a thinner single joint. It didn't make a difference, and he wasn't actually being fussy with the bit. He just stuffed his tongue out and went about his business. BM then suggested maybe he'd bit his tongue and it was just swollen and uncomfortable. I hopped off and started digging around his mouth looking for a wound or sore or something.

LOLZ GUYS I FOUND SOMETHING.

what is that about not looking a gift horse in the mouth?

Obviously the dentist will be getting called. In the meantime, if anyone has any insight to share, throw it at me! He has zero problems with eating grain, hay, or snacks, and he had no issues with us stabbing him in the mouth with our fingers repeatedly.

I feel like I need to update the blog name to Poor Woman and Her Long List of "WTF is wrong with you?!" Horses.