Baby Steps

Much thanks to those that commented on my last post that 3 year olds are assholes. It gives me hope that my kid isn't going to turn into a serial killer.

We've made some progress the last couple of days. I was back to liking my horse after I left the barn.

He has definitely become accustomed to the routine, and that sets up some of the issues. On Wednesday, I changed it up. He came in, got cross-tied, and got his food (ration balancer). Usually, I unclip them and stand nearby while they eat untied and have plenty of time to grab them while they finish licking the bowl. I was pretty sure that Stitch was going to be all "see ya" when he was done, so he had a lead shank attached the whole time. Sure enough, he finished and tried to leave. 

Now, he wasn't as bargey as the previous day, but I was also prepared a bit better - mostly meaning that I wasn't wearing huge ski gloves and I could actually hang onto the lead rope. So I managed to catch him just before he got to the point of getting me out of position. 

At this point, he was still very much not wanting to back into the grooming spot, but they're wide enough that he can turn around in them. So we went in face first and turned around, then everytime he tried to barge out I managed to get his neck bent and we could do a little circle in the stall.

It took a little while, but we got to the point where we could stand for a few seconds on a loose rope, so off we went to the next thing. 

Next was to the arena for a quick lunge. He was pretty quiet in there and very respectful, so I tried to keep it easy and lots of rewards. He also stood rock still to get his feet picked on our way out.

Back to the crossties, where he backed softly in. Then grooming, spending lots of time with some good scrubbing on the itchy bits, followed by a walk around the barn with lots of stopping and backing. 

I definitely saw an increase in the pawing and fussing when it came time to put his blankets on. Now, I don't really think he likes wearing blankets to be honest, but it was still -24 C that night, and hey, it's something he's going to have to deal with, but I will spend some time next winter figuring out which ones fit him the best. I'm not loving the way the one he was wearing was sitting on his neck.

After the blankets went on, we went for another walk around the barn. If it had been nicer out, I would have taken him for a walk away from the pasture outside, but my face froze pretty fast when we got outside so it didn't happen.

On Thursday, I rudely interrupted Stitch's afternoon nap in the sun and dragged him in - and I mean dragged. He was very much "I don't want to go to school".

Again, Stitch was fed first, but this time I left him crosstied and held up the dish for him. Sure enough, he finished eating, and tried to surge forward, to be stopped by the crossties. He was not impressed that I tricked him.

He had some moments of quiet while being groomed, but was a twit about his feet when I tried to pick them. They didn't actually need to be cleaned, I just needed to make a point of picking them up, which is hard to do when he's trying to paw.

We went for a quick walk/back up around the barn before returning to the crossties to get tacked up.

Now, I figured that getting the bridle on might be a problem. I was prepared to do it in the arena if I needed to. It wasn't going to be about actually putting the bridle on, but stopping Stitch from barging out when I took the halter and crossties off. 

So I dropped the halter down his nose and put it around his neck while still attached to the crossties, and he immediately surged forward and almost clothes-lined himself. Again, he was not impressed that I tricked him.

For ride 24, the goal was to be able to trot some 25 meter-ish multi-sided circles. They were pretty rough in the beginning, but they got better.  We didn't do a ton of trot as it has finally warmed up and he was already a bit sweaty after a little bit of work, and there was another rider in the arena who was being very nice to keep out of my way and I didn't want to interfere too much with her ride, but the circles started to get better and he was getting the idea as to where we were going. 

After untacking we walked for a bit more in the arena to try to dry out a little bit, and then went out to the pasture through a different door. The temperatures are back up around freezing, so he'll be nekkid now until the weather changes, which reduces one thing that seems to ramp him up.

We're going to continue on in this pattern, changing the order in which we do things and returning to the crossties often. There were multiple moments when he stood quietly on Thursday, and that's an improvement over the last few days, so there is hope that this is making a difference.

Also, sorry for the wall of text - I keep leaving my phone in my coat which seems to always be somewhere I am not.

Who's The Boss?

I want my sweet baby horse back. 

My current horse is a menace.

As I recently mentioned on the blog, Stitch has been having a lot of 3-year old feelings. The whack that he got one night has mostly fixed the biting, also helped by the moratorium on cookies being dispensed. 

However, the pawing has been getting worse. Actually, his whole behaviour while in the crossties has gotten worse. 

The pawing has become consistent. Doesn't matter if I'm standing there grooming him, his front legs are moving. They came into contact a few times with my leg one day so I've been carrying a dressage whip and getting after him if he paws while I'm working with him. At moments it helps, at moments it doesn't.

Today, I found out some information that may partially explain some of the behaviours.

Stitch has been performing a coup d'etat. 

Apparently, over the last couple of weeks, he has been seen moving up the ranks in the group of geldings that he lives with. He has recently been seen pushing around the established leader, a big draughty tank of a horse. 

The kid has gotten bigger, stronger, and a huge ego.

It kind of ties in with his behaviour escalating over the last few weeks.

The last couple of days he's been really bad after he had his food. 

Our routine is that he comes in, gets parked in the cross-ties, gets stripped of blankets, a quick brush, into the arena for whatever I do that day, back to the cross-ties, noms, blankets on and head out. 

I was wondering if I needed to start changing up the routine. I had been thinking that he was overly eager to go out because he always got gate cookies when he went out, but I've reduced that so that shouldn't be as much a factor. 

However, after hearing about his power struggle, I'm wondering if part of his hijinks is due to his eagerness to go back out to his buddies, where it's probably party all day every day. He has been sticky about leading forward when I've brought him in, stopping every few strides and planting, not wanting to leave his friends. 

He was really bad yesterday about getting his blanket on, to the point that I took him into the arena to finish it as he kept almost trying to sit against the back wall. He has also started barging past me when I undo the crossties. Like, full-on nose against his chest, set his neck, see ya with me water-skiing behind him.

I am not impressed.

The rope halter had only slightly more impact than the leather halter, which had zero stopping power when he set his neck. The chain lead is getting dug out next. 

Unfortunately, the way that the barn is set up is not helping. The area in front of the grooming cross-ties is not very wide, so when he barges out I quickly run out of space to maneuver before I'm running into shelves and saddle racks. I have to be able to catch him before he barges out. 

I'm going to start with changing up the routine. He can get fed early, then groomed, a bit of work (he was momentarily better after being lunged today, until he got fed and blanketed), a blanket on, and back into the arena for a bit of ground work, then, if weather permits, maybe some walking around the yard. 

So far this hasn't snuck into the arena, and he's been really, really good in there. He actually doesn't want to go back into the barn when we're done, so I'm also wondering if being in the cross-ties is stressing him out.

On my way home from the barn, after thinking that I want to sell him and get a 10 year old who should be well past this stage, I reflected back on my other horses, who all had phases during which they weren't fun to deal with. Phantom was pretty well always good on the ground, but for the first couple of years we had some terrible rides under saddle. Cisco was good in the barn, but a stressy mess in the arena.

Before them was Farly. I got him when he was 6, lost him at 19. I think that for all that time, he was always the boss horse in his turnout situation. He never had to work on it, he just seemed to give off vibes that said he was the boss and the other horses accepted it.

The first couple of years that I had him, he had atrocious ground manners. He was a confident horse who was very dominant, and we spent a lot of time working on stopping immediately and backing up and moving out of my space. He also spent most of the first couple of years doing the idiot dance in the crossties, especially if he was in the barn by himself.

We got over it, and he received compliments from cowboys on his manners, but man, there were days.

Is Stitch starting to show some dominant traits like Farly? 

I'm really hoping that this will start to get better with a couple more weeks of sorting out the hierarchy and getting back to work (it's finally going to start warming up at the end of the week) and that it doesn't take the next two years of constantly getting after my horse to make him a solid citizen again. It can be exhausting to deal with.

A Return of Old Faithful

 I've decided to put the riding on hold for another week. It's been freezing cold, and will be until at least late next week. Despite having a heated arena, when it's colder than -20C (plus a windchill) I don't like to ride the horses that live outside 24/7. I think it's too hard on them to come in and get all warm and then get chucked back out into the arctic temperatures.

So Stitch will get a reprieve for another week. And then we will hopefully be able to get some consistent rides going.

In the meantime, he's keeping me busy. Homeboy ended up with another hole in his Amigo blanket - the fourth one since he started wearing it in December. After patching up the last one, I warned him what would happen if he got another hole in it, and tonight he he bore the brunt of my anger.

He is now wearing the Suit of Armor.

The textilene fly sheet worked really well for Cisco's blankets. I mean, he'd get about two winters out of the fly sheets before they were trashed, but his blankets underneath stayed in quite good condition.

Unfortunately for Stitch, the only fly sheet I had at the barn was probably the most trashed one I still have. It's the one that Cisco put a hay pocket into the shoulder of, and most of the patches are barely hanging on. But it will work for one night. I dug another one out when I got home. It wasn't one of the three that I was looking for, but one that I don't actually remember buying. It's been worn by a horse, so it's not new, maybe it's the one I bought from someone on Marketplace a few years ago? But I thought it was a different colour, so????

He's also now wearing Cisco's old Greenhawk turnout. It's a wee bit long on his butt, but he's filled out so much that I think the shoulders will be a better fit for him. Cisco didn't fit into the standard Amigo/Rambo's very well, and I think Stitch will be the same. If not, I still have a bunch of Bucas's we can try.

I'm really hoping that we won't need to worry about blankets much longer, but I think going forward Stitch will be wearing the suit of armor on top. I love that he has friends, but those boys can be so hard on blankets!

Rides 22 & 23

We're back at it!

On Tuesday, I went out in the freezing cold evening to the barn. Turns out I was the only crazy person there all night. But that meant I had the arena to myself!

I made a last-minute decision to tack Stitch up, pop on my helmet and boots, and see what his thoughts were about me putting weight in the saddle again. I was by myself (the evening employee was around to check on us, so I wasn't totally crazy), so if he didn't seem confident about me putting my foot and weight in the stirrup we would stop there, but if it was all good then maybe I'd swing my leg over, and then???

Unsurprisingly, it was one time with weight in the stirrup, then the leg over. When I asked him to walk away from the mounting block he took steps backwards instead of forwards and I wondered if I was going to get myself into trouble, but once he went forward he was all good. 

It only took about a 20 m circle for him to relax and feel quite confident walking around the arena. We did a total of about 10 minutes, with some steering, walk transitions off of my seat, and halts off my thighs. An excellent refresher for him.

Despite the weather being significantly nicer on Thursday, (a balmy -12C), when I arrived at prime riding time the place was again empty and I had the arena to myself. Sweet!

Stitch had a little bit of pep in his step when I got on but quickly settled into the walk. Lots of snorts were released.

He picked up the trot right away when asked, and unlike when I started him in the fall, forward was not a problem! He was a bit too quick, so we had to work on settling the trot, which I wouldn't really say we did in the fall since we always trying to just go forward. Sadly, I think he already has a better half-halt off my left rein than my right, which seems to be how all my horses go. I was hoping he'd cover up my faults for a least a little while!

It's late and I don't feel like sending any video to YouTube, so enjoy this awkward gif.

We attempted a couple of simple figure 8's at a trot. They were a bit of a mess as our steering at the trot hasn't been worked on too much. I think he'll be much more forward now, so getting some steering sorted out is going to be our main goal for the next few rides. There was one corner he kept cutting, although the ones at the far end of the arena he went super deep into, so we'll be working on that.

He kicked dirt into the kickwall coming out of the corner and gave that wall a good look 

All in all, I was very happy for how these first rides in three months went. He definitely hasn't forgotten anything. He also feels much stronger than he did in the fall. Still a ping pong ball at the trot, which is to be expected, but not nearly as bad as he was in the beginning. He was just starting to feel solid about carrying me in October when we stopped, so I'm hoping it will come a bit faster this time. 

Feeling pretty pleased with himself after a turn on the forehand. Also - hasn't he filled out since the fall!

The rides will still be very short for the next little while, slowly adding in a bit more trot every ride. Stitch isn't clipped, and at this time of year I really don't want to have to do it. I have to keep him under his sweat level because this stupid cold weather has settled in for most of February by the looks of it, and when I ride in the evenings I don't want to have to deal with a sweaty, hairy pony that has to be completely dry before going back out. 

Contrition

Well, the sassy-bitey pony got a spanking last week. And it might have been just what he needed!

The day after I wrote the last post about how sassy Stitch has been as of late and how he was going to get a job a bit earlier than planned, I had him in the arena wearing his bridle for the first time since the fall. I was just doing some in-hand work with him - giving to the bit laterally, a bit of walking with me at his shoulder and steering with the reins, etc. 

One of the exercises I do is to stand in front and put my hands on the bit rings on each side with my thumbs looped through the ring, and ask him to flex slightly at the poll and ideally down with his nose. 

This opened up the opportunity for the sassy pony to get a little bit mouthy with my hands and arms.

The first couple of times he mouthed me he got a tiny bop on the nose and a "quit it". 

The third time, there were teeth involved. And I happened to be holding a dressage whip.

He got a thwack across the shoulder. A really loud thwack. Way louder than I ever thought it would be. I'm pretty sure I was judged by the other two people in the arena. (I think I caught him with the thicker end of the the whip closer to the handle instead of the skinny end.)

But you know what? He hasn't put a foot (or mouth) wrong since. 

He was immediately contrite and had the "mommy's mad at me" face. After living with geldings for far too long he realized that this boss mare has limits on what she would take from him.

We'll see how long this lasts. It's by no means something that I want to have to regularly repeat.

I'm hoping to get back on him within the next week or so, just waiting for the frigid temperatures and icy roads to get better, mostly so that I can ensure some consistency for the first little bit. The temperatures are going to be cold for the next couple of weeks, but the heated arena at the new place is lovely to hang out in.

Sass Level Midnight

Up to now, all of my horses have been obtained when they were in the 5-6 years old range. Which means that they were well past the fidgety, squirrel-brained pushing all the buttons part of life.

Stitch, at 3.5 years of age, is firmly in that stage of life. It's driving me nuts.

Standing still for more than 3 seconds? Not gonna happen. 

He feels the need to put his nose on everything, including other people's tack when I'm trying to park him back in a grooming stall. That same nose also swings around far too carelessly in the areas occupied by my body of late as well.

The pawing. 

I think it's mainly for attention, so I try to ignore him when he paws and not return to him until he has stopped for a short period. But he also does it while I am actively brushing him, so ???

And the nipping. When heading back out to the pasture where he always gets a few treats upon release, there have been a few nips at my coat sleeve or glove.

Let's just say there have been a few bops on the side of the muzzle as of late. 

This kid needs a job. It's time to go back to work.

Looking slightly chastised after being lunged a couple of nights ago.

I'm starting the process of getting him ready to be ridden again. He's been long-lined a couple of times lately with no issues. Last night he wore a bridle again. Today I'll lunge with the saddle (if I remember to take it out with me). 

I'll probably hop back on within the next couple of weeks, a bit earlier than I had planned in March. But he's looking good body-wise, and the rides will still be kept very low-key for a while.

A little bit of exercise does a body good. A hopefully the brain too.

Settling In

Stitch was back to his normal self after spending his first night out with his new herd. No more baby dragons!

Tuesday gave us a change in weather and it was finally bearable to be outside. I wandered around the property with Stitch in-hand. There's not really much to do or explore out there in the winter as everything is covered in snow.

We went into the barn and he parked in the grooming stall for what is possibly his first time in cross-ties. There was a bit of fidgeting, some pawing, and screaming if I went back to my locker and went out of sight, but he didn't test the cross-ties too much.

The pawing makes me scream inside, but I'm trying to ignore it in the hopes that he stops if it doesn't get him any attention.

We did a quick walk in the arena, during which Stitch stared at himself in the mirrors at every opportunity.

This barn has the rule that you have to pick your horses feet out when leaving the arena. Standing still long enough to get all four feet done turned into a 15 minute challenge, not helped by my chatting with someone waiting for the vet with a suspected case of laminitis in her senior horse (sadly, we were right).

The next day Stitch was much more relaxed right off the bat. He walked across the field to meet me at the gate when I called him as he typically does - this field is bigger than his old one so I was happy to see that behaviour continue!

The grooming area setup.

I moved him to the grooming stall that he might be able to see me when I went down the to my locker, and he was much quieter than the day before, but it was probably because there was a horse in the stall just in front of Stitch.

The arena was free so I took him in for a lunge. It was a good challenge for him - he had to go into a new place with the expectation that he pay attention and behave nicely, he had to keep going forward while staring at himself in the mirrors, and for the first time I mostly lunged him in the center of the ring instead of using one of the ends with walls around three sides. He mostly got his trickier left lead without needing to really set him up for him,  which is definitely progress, but he struggled a bit staying on the circle.  His canter seems different every time I lunge him; this wasn't one of his strongest nights.

"Who is that gorgeous creature?"

Oh - and he nailed the hoof picking on the way out. Stood rock still. A little bit of exercise does a brain good!

Overall, I've been really happy with how he's settled into his new home. The weather was beautiful and he was out nekkid and I was happy to see lots of dried slobber marks on him, which hopefully means he's been socializing with the other boys.

New Friends

Stitch spent the first five days of living at the new place feeling pretty sad and sorry for himself in his quarantine pen. There are horses in paddocks on two side of his pen, but they are separated by a road so obviously not able to be in contact with.

He was bored and lonely. And it was far too cold for me to be able to spend much time with him when I came out in the evenings. The first night was -31C, the second -17 plus a windchill. It warmed up to a balmy -14C on his last night in there so I was able to spend a whole 45 minutes doing things with him, mostly involving shoving cookies in his mouth. He thought that was the best time ever. 

A very frosty pony.

On Monday afternoon he was declared cootie free and able to leave his jail cell. I was off work early that day, so I rushed out to the barn mid-afternoon in the hopes that I could turn him out into the pasture and have him meet his new friends while there was still some daylight. 

It started out ok - it's a decent walk from his quarantine pen on one side of the property to the pasture on the other side. Stitch walked nicely next to me, taking his new surroundings in. 

When we got to the pasture I saw that someone was out there trying to catch a horse that didn't want to be caught. I thought it would be very mean to that person to add a new horse to the mix, so we were just going to wait at the gate until the horse was caught before turning Stitch out. 

And then Stitch showed his true colours. My quiet, well-mannered 3 year old is really a baby dragon horse in disguise.

While we were waiting to go into the pasture, the horses in the surrounding pens started to get a little silly. Between the new horse and the uncatchable one, they had plenty of reasons to start getting prancy. 

I think Stitch could have managed that okay, but what did him in was the horses that got prancy behind the row of parked trailers that lined the road to the pasture. Once the first horse suddenly pranced into view in between the trailers, Stitch had feelings.

I'll give him full credit for keeping his front feet on the ground, though there were a few times he was definitely thinking about getting light in front. His go-to move was to bulge his left shoulder into me and try to scoot off, which we had a few discussions about. It's real fun having those discussions on a packed snowy road that you have no traction on!

There were so many snorts. The "oh, this is where I die" types of snorts. So,so many.

But, we got through it without me getting jumped on. The horse got caught, the silly horses got bored, and Stitch finally got to go out to meet his new friends. 

The field is all geldings, and they were a mix of "yay someone new!" and "is there something going on I should leave the hay for?". Stitch quickly figured out who wanted their own personal space (only one gelding), and within an hour of being out I saw him playing a tentative game of bitey face with someone. When I went out the next morning he was sharing one of the round bales with someone, so he seems to be well on his way to finding his place in the group.

And most importantly - there is only one new hole in his blanket that I have to repair. 

Moving Day

We've moved! Stitch is at his new home!

The TLDR version is that Stitch travelled well and mostly settled in quickly. He'll be in a quarantine pen for at least 5 days before going to the big field and meeting his new friends.

I had planned to take a bunch of pictures, but the only I one got was of Stitch in his quarantine jail cell.

Here's the full version of how the move went:

First of all, he had to have a booster shot for the strangles vaccine that the new facility requires. I had scheduled it for the day before we were moving, on Dec 31st, at noon, for which I received a confirmation email two days before the appointment.

Pony was in just before 12. At 1pm, i figured I might as well go hook up the trailer while I was waiting, and I'd shoot her a message at 1:30 if she hadn't arrived.

There was a bit of difficulty getting the trailer hitched up - the trailer was parked before the snow arrived, so it was sitting on bare ground, but the truck was on a layer of snow and ice and sat higher than it normally would. I had to crank the front of the trailer up all the way so that it would clear the ball, and even then it was a little reluctant to connect properly. But I thought it was on enough that I could pull it forward and once I straightened up it would be ok, and thankfully I was right.

After that I sent a message to the vet to confirm if we were still on for the afternoon, and quickly got a "Crap. Be there in 30." message.

Turns out she's been pretty sick and told me to stay away from her so that I didn't catch her cooties. I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the sore throat/hoarse voice/tiredness I had for a few days after Christmas.

Stitch wasn't as good for his jab this time, done on his butt. I think he was anticipating that a thermometer was going to be put where the sun doesn't shine, which he was protesting after his first jab. 

But he got done, and I spent another couple of hours packing my stuff up.

I have a lot of stuff.

Too much stuff.

I downsized somewhat after I went down to one horse this summer, but not nearly enough. That's come back to bite me in the ass now that I have to move it all.

My dad was coming with me on the day of the move, so we loaded the rest of the stuff mostly into the bed of the truck. It pretty well filled it. Plus one side of the trailer and the tack compartment. (It was mostly blankets. I didn't realize how many blankets I had out there.)

I don't know that I've ever trailered in the winter. We got lucky in that the forecast changed from an expected high of -20 C (-4 F) to a balmy -14C (6 F). Totally bearable. But it still brought on some problems.

Tire air pressure. It drops in the cold. Each tire was 8-10 psi lower than ideal. So they had to be pumped up. Note to self- buy an extension cord that will reach from the cab of the truck to the back of the trailer so that when the air compressor that says it has a full charge turns out to not have a full charge and you can still get the job done. Thankfully, I was able to grab a cord from the barn and get the tires pumped back up.

Metal contracts or expands when temperatures change. This affects things like butt and chest bars that don't have a lot of wiggle room to get into their fittings. We didn't have to actually make any adjustments, they just didn't go into place as smoothly as I would have liked.

In these temperatures, anything wet freezes quite quickly. Like poop. Or condensation. And when ice forms in, say, the hinges of the ramp, it doesn't want to close properly. It was fine when we left, so I suspect it was either moisture from the poop that happened immediately upon getting on the trailer, or just condensation from him being on there. My dad is the kind of person who is always prepared and had a Leatherman tool that had a very efficient saw type of knife that was able to chip away at the ice and we were able to put the trailer up with no issues. 

Stitch was pretty good about getting on. I wouldn't say he jumped on, but he didn't go backwards at all. There was a little bit of tap dancing while I shut everything up but he travelled well. The side roads were packed snow and bumpy, but the highways were clear and not busy. I fully expected that he was going to be a sweaty mess when we arrived but to my surprise he was nice and dry.

He went straight into his quarantine pen. There are horses visible on two sides, but they are separated by a road. He seemed to settle in fairly quickly. There was some calling and a little bit of trotting, and I had to put a halter on him to change his blanket, but he tucked into his hay right away and finished the alfalfa cubes I had put in the trailer for him that he didn't eat on the drive. 

This place takes biosecurity very serioulsy. I can't go into the barn after being out with my horse, and I'm not allowed to move his stuff into the barn until he's been cleared.  That's going to suck over the next few days as I'm going to be out in the evenings and the temperature is going to plummet. It'll be quick trips to check on his blankets and give him his pellets and not much else. The cold is supposed to end just as his quarantine is supposed to end. 

So, there's nothing exciting happening (hopefully) for a few more days, but the move is done and I can stop stressing about it. 

New Year, New Places

There hasn't been much happening in our neck of the woods. Winter arrived with a vengeance, bringing a bunch of snow, freezing temperatures, and when it did warm up, freezing rain.

It's going to be a long winter.

When I arrived at the barn on Saturday morning the geldings were being quite rambunctious. I'm guessing that that was when Stitch's blanket took a hit because it was perfectly fine when I put him out the night before. The industrial sewing machine came to the rescue. Also, Phantom's 75" blankets now fit him quite nicely.

But there are some changes coming up.

Stitch is moving to new digs.

The original plan was to move him in the spring. Since I'm not riding over the winter, I figured I could manage one more winter without a heated arena, and that we'd move when I was ready to start riding him again. One of the things that I want to be able to do is get him out of the arena regularly, and it's a bit tough to do that at my current location. I could pay to use the neighbouring facilities trails, but for reasons, I don't want to.

With the early cold this winter, I have been lamenting the lack of heat in the arena. It's been too cold to even spend too much time standing in the middle while I encourage my horse to run around loose. My face starts to hurt after about 15 minutes.

Look who's almost looking level again!

There have also been some changes to who is using the facility that I'm not in love with. I understand that the owner needs to pay the bills, but I'm not down with how this new "trainer" appears to operate.

Thus, I made the decision to leave sooner than planned.

The plan is to move on January 1st, weather permitting. If the roads are crap then I'll hold off a few days. 

The new place has a much more stringent biosecurity protocol, so Stitch had to get some booster shots last week and another just before we leave.

I know that the lighting is different, but winter Stitch face is much darker than summer Stitch face. It's much more multi-toned.

My farrier was out today and she'll be good to continue with us at the new place, although if that doesn't work out long-term there are two other fantastic farriers that visit regularly - one of which is my old farrier and the other was my current farrier's mentor. So no worries there!

My biggest concern is where the heck am I going to put all my stuff? The lockers are an ok size but much smaller than the space I've been working out of for the last few years. My trailer will be serving as back-up storage, but it's not that big and anything stored in it needs to be able to be removed when I haul.

The next couple of weeks will be spent trying to get my stuff sorted out and ready for the move. The weather is supposed to be fairly mild starting this weekend so I need to buckle down and get most of it done next week. 

I think you have a little something on your face.

Then off to new adventures!

Winter is Here

I did get the third planned ride in on Stitch a couple of weeks ago, but it was rather blah after the previous two rides. He wasn't bad or anything, just may have been feeling the effects of three days in a row. He wasn't as forward or responsive to my leg as he had been. No worries, it's a long process, and over those three days I got done what I wanted to.

Even if I hadn't decided to just do those three days on him, Stitch still wouldn't be getting ridden because it's now winter. 

Like, full on, January temperatures and snow type winter.

Oh, what I wouldn't do for a little global warming at the moment.

Not quite sure if the kid has dark dapples in his coat or not. His face sure gets a lot darker in the winter!

To the surprise of probably no one, my horse is now sporting a mid-weight blanket and hood while grazing from the never-ending hay buffet.

I know, I said I wasn't going to blanket him.  But Saturday we got about 10" of snow, and then temperatures plummeted. I couldn't take the blanket off after wearing it for the snow when it was going to be so cold. I'm talking feels like -28 C temperatures for a couple of nights (that's -18 for you non-metric people). 

That's not usual for this time of year, and the horses don't have their full winter coats yet. That's how I'm justifying it to myself.

On Tuesday night I threw an assortment of blankets and liners into my car in the hopes that some combination would work. The kid has grown (and is still growing) but his chest hasn't filled out yet, so some of the bigger sizes are a little too saggy in the chest - or at least they were the last time I tried them on him.

Phantom's 75" Amigo was what I hoped would fit him, and it was actually pretty good on his chest, so that is the top layer. The hood is a little long, but it's not covering his ears so it's more than doable. 

I was surprised that the Greenhawk 100g liner fit way better in the shoulders than I thought it would. They fit Cisco's broad chest much better than Phantom, so I thought it would be way too big on Stitch. I also tried on a Lemieux liner that I thought would be smaller, but it was actually bigger, so the Greenhawk liner was the winner. The length on all of these was fine - a bit of room to grow, but the next size down might actually be too small.

There's still a couple of inches to fill out before I start panic buying him a new wardrobe.

I'm a little disheartened to say that I think I need to start looking for deals on 78" blankets. I think he's going to outgrow my extensive 75" wardrobe. (How much did your horse's blanket size change after he was 3?)

Stitch is going to be wearing his warm jammies for a few more days. We're supposed to get back to much more normal temperatures next week, at which point he can go out nekkid again.

At least until the next cold spell... 

Breakthrough!

Stitch has had his 20th ride. And it came with a little bit of a breakthrough!

The ride consisted of mostly walk again. The extent of the trot was a long side, big circle at the end, and another long side each way.  Nothing exciting. He felt slightly less downhill than the day before, but he was really stretching his neck out for his balance and felt like he was using too much of his underneck. No need to promote moving in that posture.

What I was excited about, was that this was the first ride where I felt that I was able to apply inside leg on a turn and he was able to stay bent around it and move away from it at the same time. Up until now, he had figured out how to turn off my outside leg, but would fall in if I asked for a bit of inside flexion.

Since he now is starting to understand inside leg, I started asking for the first time for a bit of contact and flexion. Nothing strong, just starting to give him the idea. It was all at the walk and I don't to mess with the forwardness.

Oh - I lied. We did one other thing at the trot. 

After yesterday's eagerness to do some walk/trot transitions, I wanted to see if he understood going forward in the trot off my leg. 

The first long side attempt he kind of went "uh, what?". The second side - he was all "I got this". He increased the pace and kept the rhythm with mostly just my leg (I think I clucked once). That was where we ended the ride. 

The next challenge will be trying to get the same inside leg reaction at the trot. That's going to take forever at the rate at which we are going!