Snowy lesson

Winter has arrived at the barn...

The first snow of the season began today just before E's Pony Club lesson. Dedicated riders that they are, though, the weather was not an impediment at all. All of the parents stayed huddled around a bonfire while the kids and their ponies stayed warm jumping in the arena. Everyone was happy. :)

E and Monte, ready to ride.

E especially enjoyed today's lesson because she got to ride with the "big girls." Often she is grouped with the more inexperienced riders due to the fact that she has not achieved (or even attempted!) her D3 rating. Today she rode with a D3 and a C-level rider, so the jumps were higher and the whole vibe of the lesson was more challenging - which often means more fun.

Snow started accumulating on the girls' helmets during the lesson...

I didn't pull Zoe out today. The footing at much of the barn is still sloppy and frankly, I'm a fair-weather rider! It was cold out there this afternoon. And I'm sure Miss Zoe didn't mind being left out in the field in the least.

Zoe running over to get a treat...

Take your vitamins

I love the teddy bear feel the horses get each year as their winter coats grow in. They become so soft and cuddly. Monte's is very nice - and Curly's was especially thick and wonderful. But Zoe, well, her's is not coming in so great.

While talking to the barn owner last weekend, I mentioned that Zoe's coat didn't seem to be as thick and healthy as all the other horses. She quickly agreed, saying that she was actually a little concerned about what she was seeing. Zoe's fur just seems a bit dull and dry - not at all what we'd like.

Another horse owner had left some vitamin supplement (about half a tub!) almost a year ago; my barn owner gave it to me, hoping it would do the trick for Zoe. So Zoe now gets extra vitamins mixed in with a bit of grain each day. Crossing my fingers that this does the trick!

Rushing

I've been taking advantage of the time E spends mucking stalls each weekend to actually ride my horse. I know that if she didn't have that commitment, I probably wouldn't be so regular in my riding. (Although it's pouring rain at the moment, so I'm thinking that I won't get a ride in today.)

Ever since we had the chiro out to adjust Zoe's hip, she's been more energetic and even a bit spooky. I don't know if these things are all connected, but the timing of her changed behavior certainly makes me suspicious. Yesterday she was spooking at piles of wood, ATVs speeding along in the distance and our barn owner up on a ladder. Yup, these all must be horse eating monsters!

I'm less afraid of her spooks than I was initially. She doesn't bolt, only jumps and drops sideways a bit and gets a wild look in her eye. And I've found that so far, her spooking is less when I'm actually in the saddle - a good thing, to be sure!

Yesterday was not as smooth a ride as I would have liked. Stopping was atrocious - she had a hard time just standing still for some reason (all those horse eating ATVs?) and would ignore my request to stop. So we got to do it over and over and over again. She was also super rushy in her trot, which is not comfortable to sit at all. I could get her to give me a few strides of her soft, even trot and then she would begin speeding up and get very bouncy.

I look forward to the day I know how to consistently ask and can get Zoe's floaty trot. I hear it's wonderful....

Spooky

I ignored all the chores waiting for me at home and stole a few minutes of the day yesterday to go ride my pony. Since I got sick I haven't ridden - so it's been over a week. Too long! And the weather will be turning nastier soon; I need to take advantage of sunny, (relatively) warm days like yesterday.

Zoe was still wearing her Halloween costume - brown horse. It took a while to get the thankfully-dry-mud off of her and to untangle a big snarl in her mane. While doing all of this, she decided that there were lots of things to spook at in the barnyard: the guy mucking stalls, cats, dogs, cars driving by, etc. I had no idea there were so many things at our barn that would eat a horse!

So before I could even consider riding her, we had to spend some time in the round pen. I led her in, released her lead rope and stood quietly in the center of the ring...while she proceeded to tear around the circle like a crazy horse, tail standing straight up in the air. After 6 or 7 minutes of this, she decided she was done and wanted to stop. Now we began to work (not that she wanted to!). Another 10 minutes of trotting circles finally helped her find her brain and recognize that she had a job to do. Silly pony!

By this time, I was out of time so my ride was necessarily short. (Darn those commitments at home!) I was only able to squeeze in 10 minutes, but at least we were able to practice a bit. We have gotten much smoother at stopping and standing at the mounting block while I got in the saddle was almost perfect. I was so happy. :)

Mmmmm....wormer paste

Yesterday I finally got around to worming both horses. And true to their natures, they were both highly suspicious of those little tubes of worming paste near their faces. :)

In the end, Monte was fairly easy. By now, he's probably pretty certain that we aren't going to do anything that will purposefully hurt him. Zoe, on the other hand, was a two person job. E kept her from backing away while I squished the tube o' paste as far into her mouth as I could.

I'm still sick, so no riding (waaaaay too tired), but E took each horse into the round pen for a bit of exercise. Zoe was quite the pill, kicking out at E several times. I'm thinking that she feels much better and friskier after the chiro visit on Tuesday...not that that makes it okay to kick at anyone. I had to work on her desire to rush into her stall (and to her food!) as well. It took several tries before I let Zoe go to her dinner.

Aching backs

Yesterday included a visit from the chiropractor for both horses. And it appears that this may have been Zoe's first manipulation ever - or at least she acted like that! My little girl was very tense and unsure of what this person was trying to do with her and was not the most cooperative pony. Stephanie commented several times on the horse's tenseness and on how she was holding her breath for long stretches of time. At any rate, Zoe had a hip out and was extremely stiff in the shoulders - there may have been a rib or two out as well, I don't remember.

Monte had a session with Stephanie as well. His problems were less severe (2 ribs out and some other minor adjustments) and totally in line with his current job as jumping pony.

After a chiro visit, we usually give the horses a day or two off, which made the timing of this particular visit unfortunate. Last night was our annual Halloween ride with E's 4-H group. Since E couldn't ride, she ended up leading all of the games for the other club members. The riders discovered that jousting with swim noodles, spoon & ball relay races, and flag races are much harder than they first appear! I think they all had fun, though.

Rainy days

Poor E! She had to muck stalls yesterday in a sideways-rainstorm. It was so miserable that the barn owner even came out to help her. I, on the other hand, stayed dry inside the barn, sniffling and coughing with my cold.

And then it was time for Pony Club. The rain clouds parted, the sun came out and the footing in the arena, while wet, was deemed safe enough. E, however, was cold and grumpy. And mean mom forced her to saddle up. She was not happy (to say the least!) to be going out. I soon learned that part of this feeling was being driven by memories of falling in a wet arena and having Curly land on her ankle.

But this was a different day and a different horse. Ultimately, she and Monte did just fine and even got in a few low jumps. I won't say she was a happy, smiley rider but she was at least no longer teary.

I just wish my cold would go away so I could ride my pony.....I'm tired of being tired.