All Systems Go

First off, thanks everyone for their input about Opie's pee! I never thought that would be a sentence, but here we are. I haven't been able to give him a, uhhh, deep cleaning yet because it turns out he's quite shy about such business. I awkwardly in a way only a horse person would find acceptable went in for a close look while he was a little bit dropped to see if I could see or feel anything alarming, but at the very least there's not a giant pee tumor or something hiding in there. I'll have to try a little bit of sleepy drugs next week to see if I can't get him to drop all the way for a thorough examination.

........

And this is why horse people are weird.

In the meantime, I'm going to give him two weeks of ulcer treatment mostly just because. He shows heavily so it's not going to hurt regardless. I'll keep an eye on it, but of course, as horses do, as soon as I typed out that post I've noticed his stall has been significantly more dry. So who knows.

keeps a (side) eye on everything himself. 

In other news, I got a couple of minor maintenance things checked off for Dopes this week.

On Monday he got his massage. Unlike his last one, as soon as she started digging in he was like, "Oh right. You're the lady that rubs my butt. Bring it on!" His lower lip was droopy and quivering, and he kept trying to sit on her to get her to really dig in. Sir knows what he wants. He had a knot on the right side of his neck where he likes to fake being on the bit, but other than that he was in pretty good shape. She said he looked much better than last time.

you could fit a lot of candy in that dangling lip

Today he got his saddle checked out by the fitter. She also does body work and said his back felt really good. The saddle didn't need more than a little extra flocking put up front. It wasn't much of an adjustment bulk-wise, but I could immediately tell the front of the saddle had been lifted when I sat in it which felt much better for myself. We'll do a re-check sometime over the winter just because his body keeps doing weird growing horse things.

growing in all the directions.
except for side eye. already a certified full grown pro there.

This weekend we're returning to the rated world for the last time this season. I got awesome ride times both days for the first time ever at this show which instantly put me in a good mood. I have to get up pretty early Sunday, but I'm also done before nine so total win. 

Opie has had two rides to prep, and right now I'm divided on whether I want to ride him or just give him a longe tomorrow. That seems like not a lot, but less is often more with this horse, and I really put the hammer down on him Tuesday and Wednesday over the canter. 

he only got worked on the longe the day before his last show.
it involved a lot of flailing but he finished looking really good.

The canter has been a lot of arguing over holding oneself up and not quitting every time I so much as twitch my ass cheek. Half halts are a thing at the canter, and it's non-negotiable that I can ask for one and still expect the horse to steer. The departs were also put on repeat.

I ask.

He flings his body parts around dramatically.

I bring him back to the trot.

He has Opinions and Feelings about this.

I do not care and quickly ask again.

This used to be an entire lesson. Like, how many times must I ask Opie for a canter depart before we get one without falling down/running away/being a llama/all of those all at once?

all of those all at once.

Now it's maybe five or six corrections before he deigns to take input and give me a marginally normal depart. In fact on Wednesday he stepped right into the left lead--his weaker lead--like a complete pro twice in a row. So I know we're getting there. Slowly but surely.

As for the quitting, that's been getting interesting as he tries to think up new ways to Opt Out. He really likes the "half halt means quit", but catching that in a split second with a spur usually crosses that off the list quickly. Then he tries the "I can slow down but my power steering no longer works." Letting him run himself into the wall once a ride crosses that off as well. The other day he tried "I spooked so I'm bolting! Oh, you don't want me to run off so I'll come back to the trot right away." Nah, son.

My thighs are getting a really good workout, but once we battle through all the evasions the canter he does give is getting to be something nice.

And then there's the walk and trot ADD problem.

v confused about the weed whacker on the other side of the ring.

I mentioned before that he can see out to the gate of his pasture from the ring, and it's really starting to become A Thing to stare out there. He has nice floppy listening ears around three quarters of the ring, and then as soon as we round the corner facing the door, ping! Up go his little giant ears.

It was working to do lateral work or transitions as we approached/passed the door, but now when I ask for the lateral work he gets fussy--he doesn't want to do it because it interferes with his staring. I think that's going to turn into a big ground work session as I'm pretty much over it. There's nothing out there to even stare out besides the empty paddock.

arthur says he's ready to help load

So that's where we're at. My goals for this weekend are to keep him focused for the entire test so we don't pick up the wrong lead again, and to keep him relaxed enough so the dreaded head wag doesn't show up. Anything else is a bonus. We're returning to real horse showing so sadly those fancy 70%+s aren't going to show up in next week's recap!