Monday 13 October 2014

On to October

First, let me start off by saying a huge THANK YOU for all your lovely comments on my last post. *hugs*
Funnily enough, the act of typing it & airing my "dirty" secret in public has helped me rediscover my missing drive to climb aboard.



Saturday I rode both, I just covered the very basics of walk-trot with Nancy, who was better than I remembered at the downward transitions or maybe I was riding better...who knows. We shall try again soon, although I think I ride my girls better after a break as I am not trying to achieve anything in particular. However if we had a good spin I somehow jinx myself for the next spin as I inevitably want to achieve the same outcome but often don't manage as I get all caught up in my head, push myself too hard & am probably seven shades of tense so we obviously cannot repeat the good work of the relaxed day. Silly mental problems! Although I think I am better now then I used to be at just riding what I have under me any given day...we shall see.
Nancy was a big brave girl in the walker all by herself while I rode Kika as the smaller arena Ii usually leave her in was being used for lunging. N was a little wary & nose to the gate when she first went into the walker, but when I went to collect her after a quick 20 minute spin with Kika she was chillaxed in the middle of her slot vs nose to the grate or Kika's ass to the behind grate slowing the whole thing down...K is a liability the lazy sod!



Kika was again very good, is it burning my bridges to say we might finally be out of the woods? She will never be everyone's cup of tea nor 100% everyday, she still challenges my requests all the time and makes me a better rider by ignoring me if I don't ask properly. But she no longer pitches a shit-fit when she's had enough, or perhaps (probably most likely) I haven't pushed her that far in forever.
We worked a little in walk as she had spent my 20 minutes spin-time with Nancy turning on the walker, so not much walk work needed. However when she relaxed across her back we moved up into some trot work, with walk transitions and circles + changes of rein. We also snuck in some canter work as all was going well and she was relaxed, I hadn't planned on cantering as that spin was meant to be a "get-the-feelers-out" spin to see how ouchy she was without the shoes. Not a lame step was taken, so fingers crossed!
Kika is after getting so wooly that our 15 minute spin had her quite sweaty & in need of some drying time before I tossed her back outside for the night. She really is the epitome of a pampered pony! She is a funny creature though and doesn't really sweat while working, yet 5-10minutes after we have finished she is soaked...it is like her body is on a go-slow...or maybe it just takes that time to work it's way through her mammoth growth so that I can see it...hmmm

"Stop interrupting my nap time with your silly human hand waving to catch my attention!"

Both girls are now barefoot, the new farrier/blacksmith(?!), I should probably say trimmer, came on Tuesday evening and removed Kika's remaining shoe (she did only have two to begin with, I am not so heartless as to have her loose 3 & do nothing). She tidied up both girls feet and gave me some pointers as to what I can do to help keep their tootsies healthy etc. I love learning new things & ways to help the little darlings live healthier & hopefully happy lives.
Although of course, Kika has now gone back to pawing when tied in the cross ties...wretched creature! That was why we had to put the shoes back on last time! Thankfully she does do it considerably less often now and she will not be in her stable for one of the two feeding times once she gets back in for the winter (hooray for access to winter turnout), so fingers crossed she won't make her hooves too small & sensitive this time. I feel more comfortable working with the new barefoot farrier as she is very approachable and said i can badger her and ask as many questions as I want. She may live to regret that offer ;-)


I had rugged them in 0grm Amigo Hero Lite turnouts on Thursday after it poured on them all week. Of course Friday & Saturday were dry to spite me, so I left the girls out without the rugs on Saturday evening as it was a warm 15C when I left them at 8.30pm. Q pouring rain all day Sunday and it's looking like sticking around today, so I'll be hauling them in & trying to dry them off so that I can put the rugs back on in the hopes of keeping their backs dry so that I can log some weekday saddle time!

#awkwardpose
A lot of my recent outside work/horses stress stems from the impending finalisation of my apartment & the stress I feel at furnishing it. This is the first time I will be buying my own furniture so it is a lot to budget for in one fell swoop & my browsing over the last month has left me cold at the prices of things in Lux. However Sunday I found a sweet deal (thanks to my awesome bargaining mama) on a super comfortable couch at an expo sale, so that has also raised my spirits. Now to find beds, why the mattress, slats & frame have to be sold separately and at such prices is beyond me...but now that we got amazing bargains on the kitchen & couch I know to hold out for bargaining on the beds etc also. All I can say is thankfully the bathrooms, tiling & painting was all included in the sale of the flat or I would be super strapped for cash if i had to add all that on as extra on top of buying all the furniture things!

18 comments:

  1. So glad you had fun at the barn! Here in the states we have this thing called 'craigslist' and it is free and everyone posts furniture and such that they don't want anymore for free or a price and you can barter with them and sometimes find amazing deals. Wonder if there is anything like that where you are?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been trying to keep an eye out but sadly Lux doesn't seem to have anything like that. Second hand and/or vintage shops are almost non existent sadly; the only secondhand shop I've ever seen here is for uberbrandnames that look like they've never been worn and are still stupidly pricey for scraps of material. This place is like the epitome of consumerism :(

      Delete
    2. Wow that is crazy, we have second hand literally everywhere, and here I thought that the US was queen of consumerism!?

      Delete
    3. I wish we had easier access to charity shops & secondhand options. It would be much more interesting as every store stocks the same brands and it all starts to look the same :-(

      Delete
  2. Glad you got your fire back!

    Remember you don't have to do everything are once. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love that saying! I shall have to commit that one to memory. Thankfully I don't have to get everything at once and my folks are very good to me so it's not like they're going to kick me out asap.
      If i can buy the big things like beds & sofa I'll be happy as then at least I can have people over while i accumulate the rest over time ☺

      Delete
  3. Sometimes writing it down is all it takes. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think just admitting to myself that I was a bit off was the kick i needed to sort things out and literally get back on the horse ☺

      Delete
  4. I furnished my house with a mix of funky free stuff and new stuff that I love and am now slowly replacing the things I don't like as much with newer pieces - furniture is ridiculously expensive :(
    You have the same problem with your ride expectations as I do, I'm finding it even harder with two horses not to compare them to each other as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm trying to avoid buying stuff unless I really like it. So the fact that I am picky is serving me well so far, lol.

      I have been lucky with my two, they are vastly different personality-wise and experience-wise not comparing them hasn't been an issue for me so far. However comparing each ones behaviour from one day to the next is my downfall

      Delete
  5. glad you're feeling more motivated and inspired now!! and glad the horses picked up on it and were well behaved :) good luck with the furniture!! it's a huge pain, but hopefully will only have to be done once!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fingers crossed we can get back on a progression wagon & I can get them fit so that we can learn and improve together.

      Fingers crossed i can find forever furniture and not have to go through this again for a long time ;-)

      Delete
  6. Yay I'm glad you're feeling better and I'm so glad the trimmer is working out well!! All such good news. :D

    I used to have a mare that pawed the fence.... I broke her of it by spraying her with a water hose, but that won't work inside obviously. It probably wasn't a good idea to do that with a horse anyway but I was a kid and didn't know anything else to do lol.

    One thing I heard suggested once that I have not tried, have no idea if it works and I have no idea if it could hurt them (this isn't sounding good lol) is that you can put a horse shoe around their fetlock (some people use a chain too I think) so that when they paw the horse shoe hurts their ankle.... again I have no idea if it works or how painful it is or how long it would take.... However maybe it will give you an idea or something? I'm not sure. Pawing is really annoying though. The only other thing I could think of is an electric fence so they get shocked when they paw, but I don't know if that could be set up in her stall (seems dangerous in a confined space) and I don't know if she paws against the wall or just against the floor. Anyway I'm probably not being helpful at all so I'll be quiet now. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When in the cross ties i can squirt her with the hose but won't be able to reach her when she's in the stable sadly. She was good last night when tied as she dozed, it's hit & miss.
      Trimmer is optimistic we can keep on top of her and not let her do herself a mischief. I already have her next apt for the 8th of Nov for a check up as her front feet have had shoes since 2012 so K needs a little more regular visits than N for now. However I will have her check N when she comes and try to keep them on as close a cycle as i can - me cheap & wants to save on multiple call outs in consecutive weeks ;-)

      Delete
  7. P.S. Another trick I've heard used for horses that paw is to give them alfalfa hay or something to keep them busy while the feed is being prepped. It doesn't always work, but some horses will stay so busy with the hay that they forget about pawing. If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hay won't distract her when hard feed on the menu. She is not the only one to make a fuss of feed arriving (all 100+ horses are fed all the same time by BO). My only issue with her fussing is the damage she has done in the past to her feet - silly sod. Has so little self preservation sense

      Delete
    2. Yeah most horses who fuss about feed aren't interested in hay but I figured I would suggest it in case. I'll keep my fingers crossed she doesn't tear her hooves up!

      Delete
    3. Hopefully the trimmer can help us keep her on track

      Delete

I love to hear from readers, thank you for your comment :-)