Not that I'm biased...

I wanted to add that as Curly and E. lined up with those 10 other horses yesterday I was very proud to see how nicely he is shaping up physically. He was truly one of the best looking animals out there.

Pre-fair has happened....

E. and Curly just finished showing in the halter class at a pre-Fair competition. And they did better than I expected! The judge gave them 90 points (out of a possible 100) and she placed 5th in a group of 11. Not bad! They were criticized for not setting up quickly/easily (they were both pretty fidgety for this part) and for not picking up a trot when she took him back to the lineup. I was just happy that he didn't act like a big ol' anchor at the end of her lead rope!

It has been a long day for E. She must have hurt her knee worse than we thought last Saturday (at least that's all we can trace the current problem to...). It was swollen and pretty painful all day today. She even quit her lesson short this morning due to pain. I gave her Ibuprofen, iced it down for a while and gave her a knee wrap to wear. That all helped but she still was very happy to put the horse away this evening. It was kind of cute to hear her announce to everyone, "I have my first sports-related injury!"

We are taking tomorrow off from all horse riding activities and will be sleeping in. Yahoo!

Daily rides...

We've been up and out the door by 7:00 am every morning this week. Crunch time is here! And the riding lessons have been 2 hours long at minimum.

E. is quite happy with Curly's lope these days. He has very nice foot action and fairly good head placement, and is even becoming better about picking up the correct lead. He isn't always good at staying on the wall while loping, but that's improving. We are also happy with his general conditioning. He looks great!

She is still working hard on halter skills. Curly is beginning to understand what is required but is not always consistent. Everyone that leads him is quick to reinforce "the rules" - no walking past the leader, pay attention to cues, respect a person's space, etc.

The 4-H group is very supportive of E. and Curly, recognizing that she has the most challenging horse at the moment. But all agree that he is a sweety-pie and truly wants to please. As I've said before, with a little hard work he's going to be a great horse!

A close call...

E. had her first trail ride on Saturday and she loved it! Her trainer took her up one of the surrounding mountains on a ride that lasted about 4 hours. Curly did really well and only hesitated at one stream.

The end of their ride was not so calm and uneventful, however. E. was trying to lead Curly across the highway to be loaded up in the trailer and as usual, he was being a non-cooperative anchor at the end of the lead rope. As she was pulling, her trainer whacked him on the rear (she told E. she was going to do this, of course) and he leaped forward, tripping E. and causing her to fall on the pavement. That alone is enough to make your heart pound a little. But it doesn't end there. Curly actually ran over E., clipping the back of her head with a front hoof and missing the middle of her back with a rear hoof by inches. E. ended up directly under the horse - a place a rider NEVER wants to be. In the end, E. only suffered some scrapes and bruises from the fall. Her trainer took them to a place nearby for milkshakes so that she could make sure E. didn't have a concussion - and to calm her own nerves! Did I ever tell you that riding horses is actually more dangerous than riding motorcycles?

We are so lucky that no real harm was done!

Curly will be receiving some intense training on being lead and respecting a person's space this week.

"Why didn't I place too?"

That was E.'s question last night as she left the ring after the walk/trot competition at the final night of Hot August Nights. She totally gets why she would never get a ribbon for the other classes but was very disappointed that she didn't place in this one. Both her 4-H leader and her trainer reassured her that she did do very well and then explained the few things that need to be improved upon. It is moments like these that make the 4-H group so wonderful - incredible support with clear instruction to boot. Anyway, it mostly boils down to an inexperienced horse and the need for more time. We all keep telling her, "Next year it'll be better!"

I've been taking E. out to the barn for 2 hour lessons in the mornings these past couple of days. It's wonderful in the early hours - cool and breezy - and the animals are much more willing to work. Getting E. out of bed is another story! She isn't enjoying the 6:00 a.m. wake up calls. Poor baby!

Cantering is becoming easier. Curly still resists E.'s signals but ultimately listens. E. is letting him get away with less and less, and hopefully soon he'll stop trying to get away with anything. It all just takes time....and they've really accomplished so much already.

Trailer maintenance...

All this past week J. has been kindly fixing the brakes, repacking wheel bearings and generally checking our horse trailer over for us. This morning I took it in to the local trailer dealer to have the wiring looked at. Whenever we towed the trailer, the lights would remain on at all times - even if the truck was completely turned off. This hasn't been a problem for us so far (especially since we've only used the trailer twice now!) but I can imagine a time when I might forget to unplug the trailer from the truck and run the battery dead. The service guy found a crossed connection that easily solved our problem, thank goodness. And he even kindly turned our rig around for me without any comments about my lack of driving abilities! (Actually, he was quite nice about the whole thing. Makes me wonder how many other owners are squeamish about turning their trailers around in tight quarters.)

We now have everything in good working order and will begin "The Big Rust Abatement Project." (That's how I visualize the name of this chore in my head. ) But first, a trip to the pool with the girls.....

Learning to lope...

The main task for Curly and E. these past few days has been learning to lope. By last night's lesson they both had improved tremendously, picking up the correct lead almost immediately and continuing at the requested pace for as long as E. asked. He still isn't completely reliable when she tells him to lope, but I think within a few months they'll have it down. Which means, yes, they probably will still experience problems in the fair show ring.

E. has learned that the easiest way to get Curly to move is to make sure his buddy Zane is in front of him. We now call it the "Zane magnet" because Curly will disregard all cues and even cut across the arena to get closer to Zane! Funny to watch but frustrating for E. She continues to ride using two hands because of the "Zane magnet." Thank goodness Curly and Zane won't be in the same competition classes.

The "Zane Magnet"

While giving Curly his daily massage yesterday I discovered another tender spot near the middle of his back. We are hoping that it is just sore muscles (which is very possible considering the increase in riding lately) but I may have to call the chiropractor out again if it doesn't improve in the next couple of days. He is moving so much better than last week but still appears a little stiff in his hind legs.