Jekyll and Hyde

I'm so over third fourth eighteenth winter. I'm so over the week starting out with a weather forecast of "Sixty degrees will be here by the weekend!" and then Thursday hits and instead it's "JK HERE'S MOAR SNOW."

Over it.

That doesn't really have anything to do with this post. I just thought I'd share that with you all.

just going to be over here in this dark corner of the indoor feeding my horse cookies,
never seeing the sun or tshirts ever again.

After every lesson, I jot down some notes that stuck with me to come back and organize into a post later. The first two things I wrote down were ironically "Don't get stuck on the correction." and "He's an intense horse." Way to foreshadow, BM! Foreshadow my horse being a colossal asshole in his next "dressage ride" that is.

We'll get to that.

Our lesson Friday was mostly at the canter as requested by me. I don't like riding it when it consists of going fast, and falling in, and flinging oneself dramatically into and out of the transitions, but very unfortunately it's not going to stop doing any of those things unless I work on it.

SAD.

all canter should be done in half seat in a jump saddle. much better.

Fortunately, the kid is a smart horse and he keeps his lessons in his head. There was almost no bolting into the transition and then having to be sat on his ass to immediately stop him. There was drama and anticipation, but certainly less than it has been. That's where the "Don't get stuck on the correction." comes in. I was to tell him no and immediately move on back to the trot. Nothing's coming out of lingering on a fight besides a longer fight.

Usually he's almost a hundred percent about picking up the left lead, but he was all about planting his right shoulder out Friday so I didn't even bother trying for the lead until we had a talk about move your fucking front half over here. My hip pain has ceased, but my thighs were whooped after this lesson keeping him straight.

kid also has some pretty accessible flying changes when not falling down

He also hasn't done his disappearing act from the bit in awhile, but after hard canter work he wanted no part of using himself at the trot. He tucked his nose in to his cute little fake frame and peaced out on contact. We worked on alternating pushing him forward and slowing him way down until I could feel his mouth a little bit. Then we oozed down to the walk while keeping a firm feel for a couple of strides before oozing back into the trot. As long as I kept the contact and didn't just throw the reins at him at the walk, he kept the contact as well.

The intense horse part? Ugh. I've said it before. There is no in between with Opie. He does nothing half assed. He doesn't just break from the canter and fall on his forehand or into a messy trot. No. He flings himself down and then flings his head and neck and body around. If he gets something wrong, he's doesn't just shrug it off. He has Feelings about it. Many Feelings.

Something else he has Feelings about?

SCREAMING HIS STUPID FUCKING BRAINS OUT.

after being so good sunday where he got pets and cookies.
no cookies on monday, asshole.

I should have walked right back out of the barn Monday. I wasn't even in the mood to ride, it was more showing up to put the time in with show season looming ever closer. The horses were in for a melting ice storm and torrential flooding rainfall (It's been super nice weather up here lately, why do you ask?), and as I passed the door to the ring BM asked if I'd hold her horse so she could get off as he kept rearing whenever she took her foot out of the stirrup. Said horse then proceeded to lose his shit over life and everything else and set the whole fucking barn off.

I got on Opie and he was fine for all of one lap at the walk before he joined in on the scream fest. I despise screaming all on its own, so when he added in trying to go up as he screamed I got off and put him on the longe before I was too tempted to brain him.

listening ears--listening for anyone to answer

Ten minutes of w/t/c work in side reins and I felt his head was back in the game. I got on and immediately booted him into the trot--where he remained until we cantered. He muttered a few times, but mostly kept a lid on it. I was ready to be done and had him cooling out at the walk when Secret got the barn started again, and Opie joined in again.

After he flung himself bodily into the closed arena doors and then started to go up as I swung off, the fucker went back on the longe where he proceeded to gallop around for twenty minutes. I'd ask him to walk and he'd just turn on the boosters.

"i've made a terrible mistake."
yes. yes you have.

Mindful of his own well being, he was a perfect horse this morning. I had the truck with me so first thing we did was get on the trailer to back off. He patiently waited for his cookie after each slow step back, and strolled all the way off completely relaxed the first time.

Under saddle, we did nonstop lateral work at the walk to hold the brain's focus before moving on to trot and canter. He was really good for both, and as soon as we were done I jumped right off to cool him out in-hand. Horses were starting to get turned out and he'd already ignored one scream-along. I didn't want to get into it again when it was clear he was trying to contain himself.

Absolutely no cookies for Monday. Many cookies were earned this morning.

Death Box Training, Part the something

You guys gave me some great suggestions on how to work with Opie's unloading issue--as I knew you would! The blogosphere never fails to lend its collective knowledge and having a fresh perspective on the problem was exactly what was needed.

i feel like these pictures give a good sense of what a shorty opie is

  
It took awhile to get back to work with the trailer as my truck was at home partially disassembled waiting for parts to arrive and Labor to be done with his day job. It needed a little TLC this year to pass inspection. Nothing big or mechanically terrifying fortunately, but we did put a new bumper on and a couple of minor fixes while Hubby had the back end open which took some time on an old, rusty truck.

In the meantime, I formed a plan for Opie based off of the feedback I received. It mostly revolved around getting him to move one foot at a time and then stopping. No more "One step, THE WORLD IS ENDING FLAIL EVERYWHERE RUN FAST."

We practiced in the aisle, the ring, and his stall. On flat ground he was fine. He thought things through and listened to the new game with his usual Will Learn for Cookies attitude. When I took the game to his stall, it was a whole different result.

casually glaring at me

His stall dips down slightly to walk into it. It's covered in mats and is maybe an inch slope. This mimicked the trailer ramp situation perfectly--so perfectly that the second his hind foot stepped down he went flying backwards the rest of the way into the stall and then stared at me like I'd just chased him off a cliff. I was actually excited about this as it gave us a safe, easy place to practice every day while the truck was getting put back together.

Fortunately Opie is extremely food motivated. There's nothing this kid won't do for the chance at a cookie, and he remembers his cookie sessions very well. As in, he still tries to jump jumps in the ring while I'm on the ground if I get him anywhere near their vicinity because of that one time I led him over some scary fill in-hand and he got cookies. (I should also point out that I have a universal "Bite me and die" rule for all horses so no, he's not a nippy prick.)

A few giant carrots stuffed into my pocket and away we went, up and down and back and forth in the stall over and over again. One step at a time. After a couple sessions he grasped the fact that all he had to do was take one step, stop, and a cookie was produced. Best game ever!

Last weekend my truck was ready to go again and we swung into the barn on the way to Lowe's for a practice session.

never any issues with getting on!

Opie and his two friends were in their field having a snorting dinosaur fest at...probably air molecules again, I don't know. There was literally nothing out there out of the ordinary. Opie was a little distracted to start as we were parked in front of his field, but I started the game with stepping just his front feet on the ramp and then one step back at a time. He finally tuned in once he realized what we were doing, but having his hind feet on the ground and front feet on the ramp has never been an issue. He was only freaking out getting his back feet out of the trailer and onto the ramp.

The only way to address that was to get him all the way on the trailer and start the backing process there.

He started off the first couple of times reverting right back to the problem: the second his hind feet stepped out he went jetting backwards frantically, fuck you and your cookies.

Back on the trailer, try again. And again. Finally the cookies started to work on his brain and he was able to step out of the trailer and stop at the top of the ramp. Any further steps and he was outta there though.

Part of me thought about calling it quits there as it was some progress. However, I could see the little wheels in his brain turning. I felt like he was close to getting it. He was wanting to listen, he was just fighting his instinct to runfastbackwards instead.

I had used up an entire bag of peppermints and two mondo sized carrots so I had to raid my trailer for the bag of cookies stashed in there (where we're off to at the end of the above video). Restocked, we tried again.

And that is exactly how I want that to go. Thinking horse, loose lead, no dramatics.

Having a solid equine citizen is where it's at for me. That's really my number one goal at all times. I don't want to deal with drama, or bad manners, or insecurity. I want a horse I can pull out and do anything with at any time. I think that's achievable for any horse if you're willing to put the time in, and honestly I don't buy into the excuse of "My horse is never going to be able to do that." I'm in now way, shape, or form a pro. I don't have any experience beyond basic problem solving--and clearly sometimes I even need to get outside help for that!

Train your horses, people. I promise you'll thank yourself later.

W/T/C

The last three rides have been the tale of three Opies--three gaits, three different racehorses.

joining red pony in the winner's circle. my ottbs have not
been the winningest of creatures. 

The Walk

Opie has a great trail horse walk. He goes places. He hustles, yo. When Opie is paying attention, his walk is also fantastic in the ring.

One of Opie's biggest weaknesses? ADHD brain.

We were taking a walk break in our lesson Friday and BM casually mentioned that the free walk could probably improve by not letting him scurry forward on his forehand, pounding his feet into the earth like an elephant.

but at least a cute elephant?

No real issues in our Sunday ride, but this morning he wanted to get super crooked trotting right. Since he's still not the best at legs meaning more than Go at the trot (and definitely not the canter), I brought him back to the walk to get his front end and back end realigned.

He wanted to lay on my right leg so badly at which point he got acquainted for real with my spur for the first time. After throwing a minor tantrum where he tried blowing out even more into my leg and spur, he finally deigned to straighten out.

He drifts back and forth slightly both directions still when we're working hard on stretching from the base of his neck like he can't focus on both a straight line and using himself correctly. That's fine. When your ass and your shoulders are not even in the same universe as each other is not fine.

stay straight little dopie horse!

The Trot

Our last lesson was all about slowing down the trot. This time it was graduating to the next step and using all those things we learned while going slow--what feet are, having a long neck, being a calm horse--and pushing forward into a good, strong working trot.

Overall he's been doing really good with this. He loses his balance with the bigger step sometimes and bobbles, but BM is as quick to jump down my throat as I am about wanting to jump down Opie's throat when this happens. I'm such a control freak that the second he fusses I want to do something to correct it. BM reminds me to let him go for a step or three and see if he corrects himself first (which pretty much always happens). A lot of the fussiness can be fixed by a half halt to re-balance and then pushing him forward again. If he's using his butt and reaching for the bit, he's not going to do strange things with his head.

BM: straighten your wrist.
me: feels straight.
my wrist: is never actually straight.

Today I introduced him to the beginnings of trot lengthening. Dudes. SO. CUTE.

He's so much easier than Bobby ever was even with this being his very first attempts. He's so small that he doesn't explode into a million pieces because there's too much body to keep track of. A little half halt here and there, maybe a half a lap to slow down and get everything back in order, and then his little legs are off and bouncing and reaching.

Adorable. I think he actually enjoyed himself as well. Will get media asap.

wrists gone rogue. always. all the time.
at least i'm not falling completely forward though!

The other thing of note at the trot is for myself. Looking through the media from Sunday's ride I was happy to see some definite improvement in my posting. It's still a work in progress as I have to actively think through all the corrections BM gave me. I need to always work on bringing my shoulders back, but there's a lot less pictures where I want to yank my entire body into a different position.

The Canter

Ohhhhh, the canter.

yep.
a pretty accurate representation of the right lead departs. 

Opie still wants to jet into the canter. He's not too bad to the left--really most of the time that direction he steps pretty quietly into it--but the right lead is just a hot mess express.

Our right lead canter departs have been: cue, bolt, stop immediately with much head flinging, repeat. This has been...sort of intentional? Of course if I cue and he doesn't put the pedal to the metal right off the bat then we carry on and work with what we've got. But he absolutely cannot get away with the spastic, rabid, rage monster leaping.

Since he's not great with half halts at the canter when he's behaving himself, they really don't mean anything when he's like this. Lots of repeated halting and putting the kibosh on the horrible running off departs seems to eventually get it through his brain that we can, in fact, canter off without it being from the starting gate.

proof it can be done.

The good news is that I can finally sit on my horse at this gait. I've been in hovercraft mode since we started cantering because he couldn't deal, but he finally seems strong and comfortable enough that I can plug in my seat. Not that I always do it because I wouldn't be me if I instantly fixed my problems instead of taking forever to get my life together, but small steps.

opie's all, ride better and maybe i'll go better. touche, sir.

It's all getting there though. Some things are going to be ugly for awhile yet, but every ride he creeps forward that much more.

able to trit-trot around for cool out on a long rein without falling down now

Keeping it real

I was going to put this riding recap post off another day, but my little nugs of information I jot down after each ride have already reached an obnoxious level so off it goes. Every ride on Opie is a different ride as he comes out a different horse each day. Which is fine. If he was the same horse every time right now, we'd never be progressing.

Or regressing and then progressing. Gotta keep it interesting.

Last week was a flip-flop of rides. One day he was very good, the next day he was trippin'. Next day good, day after literally tripping. As in, I almost emergency dismounted because I thought my horse had broken his leg and was falling to his death as his whole front end disappeared from underneath me, but no. Just tripping. At the walk.

You guys, paying attention to your feet is the actual hardest when you could be focusing on other things--like horny birds flying around your head. Or air molecules, I don't know.

Let's start with the bad first so we can finish on the good.

The ride after BM got on Opie last week, I tried to emulate what she had done. Slow the walk, slow the trot, make the horse lift his back and be responsible for himself--mostly though, be a straight horse. He started off being super distracted and losing his balance every few strides, but we wrapped up on a good note. More on that in a minute.

In my lesson Friday, we continued those themes. It was a really, really frustrating lesson. At one point I wanted to quit and be like, "This isn't working, we need to do something else." But when I first started riding with BM I wished that she had been there when I restarted all of my previous track horses. She's so good with the basics that I trust her methods even if they don't produce instant results--which of course they're not going to. I can't expect my green bean to pick up on a whole new way of going and perfect it within the space of ten minutes.

EVEN IF I WANT TO.

We spent what felt like eons at a slow jog on a long rein. Opie had to lift his back. Opie had to be straight. Opie had to be responsible for his own balance. Opie had to stretch down from the base of his neck. Carly was not allowed to fiddle and manipulate and over-ride and pounce the instant Opie didn't do any of the above.

LITERALLY THE WORST THO.

And then Opie had to maintain all of the above while I picked him up and moved him out into a working trot at which point I had a meltdown over my posting. BM was all:

I want to thrust myself up out of the saddle with fucking vigor when I post. This is apparently not correct. Who knew. BM basically told me to chill the fuck out--I feel like that's my takeaway from every lesson but sometimes all the time I CANNOT. I need to think of letting my horse bump me out of the saddle and as high as he bumps me is as high as I'm allowed to post. If he doesn't bump me ten feet out of the saddle, I probably do not need to be making up that extra space all on my own.

She also told me to weight the ball of my foot evenly as I want to weight just the outside of my foot really heavily and it's not helping with my balance.

In one ride this has revolutionized my posting. I don't feel like I'm tipping forward and losing my balance every time I post up, and in return I'm not affecting my horse's balance at the trot. I guess this is why we have trainers or something.

She made us finish with a couple canters each way in which things spiraled out of control and Opie forgot that he was being a perfect dressage pony seconds before. No. Now he was an anticipatory rage beast ready to canter (badly) at a moment's notice.

BM said, "Pick up the canter."
And I said, "I hate you."
And BM pointed out, "You're the one who wants to show."

The good news is that ever since BM's ride last week, my leg hasn't hurt once. I've been starting Opie off right away with haunches-in both directions at the walk. The theory with the leg pain is that he wasn't straight, and by not using his right side/lifting his back on that side, it was causing my hip to drop into a dead space instead of having a space to sit. Get the horse straight, I can sit evenly again, the pain disappears. So long, peg leg life. You won't be missed.

After getting him even, we move on to a slow trot to settle the brain and make it start thinking about what legs are. If he's particularly distracted, a little left-right flexion--and I'm not talking about head cranking to his shoulder, it's literally tipping his nose one way and then the other--gives his gerbils something to think about instead of outside noises.

Always thinking ahead to how what I'm doing is going to work in a show atmosphere, he seems to need a couple of short canters to get the stupid out before he's there for me in them, moreso to the right than left.

The canter itself is faster than what I'm looking for, but it's what he can maintain in balance so I'm working with it. I'd rather him be quick and covering a lot of ground and relaxed-ish than slow and tense and flailing around angrily because he can't hold it.

We've reached the point where I'm starting to tackle test riding in earnest. The horse can go around and do all the things separately, but we need to work on making the transitions more prompt while keeping the relaxation, and steering is always an area to improve upon.

First batch of entries went in the mail today. Time to slay, Dopie!

Game Night

Before recapping a night of shenanigans, I want to say thanks for all the advice on my trailer unloading post. I've been working daily with Opie on the one step back only game (or some variance), and there's been a lot to address there--and we haven't even gotten back on the trailer yet. But I'll save that for another post. My truck's ass end is back together again, so the trailer unloading training can resume. Shit's getting serious: one month to the kickoff of show season!

barnmate: what does he need the figure 8 for?
me: cuteness.
barnmate: AGREED.

Speaking of show season, I felt like the best way to prepare was to throw a borrowed jump saddle on my horse and gallop him around the ring willy nilly with a bunch of other horses. I mean, he got to wear a ribbon on his bridle for the first time so it was basically training for future victory gallops, right?

My barn throws various low key events throughout Never Ending Winter to keep everyone from going bat shit crazy. We missed the last game night because Opie was too foot sore to participate, and I've opted out of jumper nights since I'm trying to conserve every dolla dolla bill for dressage shows (and, you know, Opie is not currently a jumping bean). I was therefore really looking forward to hanging out with barn mates I don't usually get to see because of conflicting schedules and participating in loosely structured hi jinks that always result in hilarity. 

plus the barn moms feed us. #macandcheeselife

Game night involves a bunch of Games for Grown Ups Children, varying on which ones we remember to do and if we veto something. For instance, the adults wisely vetoed potato sack race this time in which you run your horse to the end of the ring, throw it to a handler, and run stumble and fall back to the finish line. 

See? Straight shenanigans. 

"need more cookies inserted for this venture, plz."

Our games this night were, in no particular order:

1. Ribbon race
2. Egg and spoon
3. Pony express
4. Musical stalls
5. Scurry race
6. Poles
7. Barrels
8. Command class
9. Sit a buck

I was bound and determined to get one of the two giant ribbons up for grabs, so no allowances were made for Opie's greenness. That meant he was expected to do things like canter. And steer. And maybe don't fall down. TIME TO UP THE ANTE. 

We started with Pony Express which is a two man relay race. We teamed up with fellow OTTB Oz. Opie started the first lap, "baton" in hand. I let him get a running start into the canter instead of bursting forth at the start cone because transitions are sometimes hit or miss throw a giant shit fit. The little fucker picked up the canter at the first touch of my leg and cruised around totally balanced. Then he got his first lesson that game night involves lots of sprinting followed immediately by having to stop right away. 

SAD.

proven sprint winner on the track. not a proven stopper.

We won that, finished mid-pack for musical stalls (wherein "stalls" are set up with poles and you run into one when the music stops) and egg and spoon, possibly won poles, and did pretty well with barrels. Dopie had the speed games figured out right away: run fast to the end, sort of maybe do some steering in between, and then as soon as you get turned around, you get to run really fast again. 

The first couple of times involved our run back ending with me yelling, "Stop, stop, stopstopstop!" between breathless giggling because I'm a grown up for sure, but we all figured out that if the horses waiting their turn just left a chute to the closed arena doors Opie had a solid stopping point and no one died. #winning #??

He was adorable for scurry race which I've always heard called barnyard jumpers when I was gaming Bobby. It's two jumps (tiny Xs for us) set a couple strides apart--run down, jump the jumps, turn around a cone, run back over the jumps. Opie got to the first jump and was like, "I got this! I'm a jumping horse!" and bravely jumped it like he knows he's supposed to. Then he landed and was like, "Wtf there's another one!" but hopped that one, too. He trotted them both on the way back, but landed in the canter on the last one and ranhomefast because gaming horse. Obviously. 

Ribbon race:

BM eventually called a tie for win because we were just too talented to be defeated. I was super proud of Opie for steering with one hand though as that has historically not been the case. And he didn't try to kick Oz even though he was feeling a bit like a rage monster after coming in second in the command class which involved his first group canter and five thousand transitions, neither of which were his cup of tea. 

We finished the night with bareback sit a buck where we also finished mid-pack after I lost my dollar while cantering to the right--Opie's first time cantering bareback which definitely made him a rage monster. 

BM: this is a cute picture opportunity!
opie: fuck you.

We ended up doing well enough to get the giant high point ribbon so mission accomplished!

Overall though, it was just a really fun night of introducing the baby horse to some of the stupid things he's going to be expected to do in his new life. He learned about standing still surrounded by other horses, even if you're not being a fed a constant stream of cookies for doing so. He learned that he can be passed by lots of horses and not have to race them. He learned that he can't stop and molest innocent bystanders for snackies while his rider is trying to steer one-handed. 

he really wanted to turn his head to get his cookie
but couldn't figure out how to see around the ribbon

Just about six months off the track and already doing all the stupid shit I love to do. Better than satin? Maybe.

"plz just get off and give me the cookie already."

Ho Back

And no, we're not holding up a line of hot walkers here.

I'm curious to see if anyone can throw out some trailer loading advice--or more specifically trailer unloading advice.

As I've known since day one of Opie, exiting the trailer has been a source of great anxiety for him. His go-to is to fly out as quickly as possible, head in the air, anything behind him be damned. He's excellent to get on the trailer. He'll follow you right up, and we ended this morning with him self-loading again and standing still while I banged the butt bar loudly behind him. But the second I ask him to take a step back, it escalates to boom, gone like the wind.

In our last practice session before today, I was able to keep pressure on the lead rope and get him to back out slower--not calmly and thinking about where each foot was, but slow enough that I consider it backing out instead of running out in a blind panic. I didn't do anything different than normal that day so I'm not sure why he was feeling more confident.

This morning I was able to get him stopped halfway down the ramp. Once his hind legs hit solid ground, he stopped with his front legs still on the ramp and stayed there until I asked him to slowly back the rest of the way down.

He genuinely seems anxious about the whole thing. I don't think there's any part of him that's doing it because he's trying to be bad or sassy or ill-mannered. He gets on the trailer, eats his candy while looking out the window, and then the second he thinks I'm about to ask him to back he starts trembling.

I reward him for any small backwards shift where he lets me immediately stop him, but once that back foot leaves the inside of the trailer, he's gone. The drop from the trailer to the ramp is minimal. My ramp is solid, the hinges are solid, and I'm on as level ground as he's ever going to get.

I can live with a quick exit being his thing, but I'm honestly concerned for his safety with how frantic he is right now. I don't want him to fall down, and he has zero regard to bashing his hind end into the butt bar--while it's padded, it's by no means "horses like to maim themselves on perfectly innocuous things" proof.

So, any ideas?

Peg Leg Life

I told BM in my lesson on Friday that the goal I'm grinding towards right now is to sit the trot.

Yeah, guys, that's literally it.

Win ribbons? Yes. #slayallday? Also yes.

But I want to sit the trot more than anything because A) I suck at posting in general, and B) I want my right leg to stop hurting so very badly.

the same look i give opie every time i fall off of him at the
end of a ride and roll around on the ground in agony

I've had my saddle checked, I've had the horse checked, I've had BM stand in front of and behind me as we go around. We've talked shims, girth tightness, more saddle fit, more horse fit.

I'm not a naturally crooked rider. I have a lot of bad riding habits, but sitting straight in the saddle has never been one of them. But something was clearly going on somewhere as I've never had to stop in the middle of a lesson to stretch my leg because I couldn't push through the pain for one more step.

I didn't ride all weekend, my leg got a break, and I got back on Monday with a pad from BM that she uses to help hold her saddle in place on her very wide, round horse. Opie was LIT. Horses were galloping around in the ring before we went in, everyone in the barn was throwing a screaming tantrum because they were locked inside while the vet was running late, the arena doors were open, and just omg the distractions.

He eventually settled and we were able to put in some really nice canter work followed by working more at the haunches-in at the walk. My leg though? Still hurting.

always with the side eye 

BM wanted to do a horse swap. She wanted a change from her school master, and I got to sit the trot. That was definitely more of a win for me as I actually rode rode for all of five minutes before turning my attention to what BM was up to with Opie.

I'd tried shimming up the left shoulder, but BM felt like maybe the right side was what needed it. Then changed her mind again and said the shim was doing jack shit. She felt like it was all mechanically coming from how Opie was using himself--or not using himself.

I'm not going to attempt to explain what moving parts were doing what they were supposed to and which ones weren't because I'm not any good at that sort of thing, but the moral of the story is that Opie needs to bring his haunches in a bit more to track up correctly/be a straight horse and use his back better. Oh, and if he could just stretch his fucking neck already that'd be great.

secret and i being the best at supervising 

She eventually got off to let me get on and immediately commented on how bad her right leg hurt. Welcome to the Riding Opie Club. #pegleg

She'd been riding Opie at a slow jog which is what I went back to...which means I got to sit the trot! The goal was to get Opie to slow down, think about his feet, think about his balance, and think about how you're a horse and horses have to hold themselves up, saddest story of the day.

It was a little rough, but for the first time he let me actually sit on him, and I quit with him really lifting and rounding his back without splatting on his face and getting heavy. And when I got off? My fucking leg didn't hurt. So that's something we're going to have to explore further. I'm glad BM got the chance to sit on him and feel what I was feeling before our next lesson. Hopefully the leg pain will soon be a thing of the past.

i've realized owning a grey horse may be for me after all.
there's nothing i love more than obsessively grooming and cleaning
my horse (and all his things). this tail makes me so happy. 

A well-timed farrier appointment tomorrow morning will give Opie the day off.

He did finally get his teeth done yesterday. His bottom teeth were pretty sharp, and while I haven't run into an instance to test out if it will make a different under saddle, he finished his breakfast in half the time it had been taking him. Yay, new teeth!

He also got his first treatment for the aural plaques in his ears which is supposed to irritate them, so a day off for that isn't the worst thing.

Poor Dopes. All the treatments all at once! He gets his final round of stabbies the second week of April, and then he should officially be done being traumatized with vet and dental care just in time to be traumatized by show season starting.