I'm a bad blogger, and I'm sorry.
It's been a busy couple of weeks in my life, though the riding side of my life has been pretty routine.
RE: my last post, I swapped all the girls to Ultium Competition and have added canola oil to their diets, and I'm really happy with how they look. It brought back a nice shine into Bailey's suddenly dull coat, Bizzy seems to be gaining that extra bit of weight, and Arya looks fantastic.
Before I could decide on a supplement for continued gastric support, we got some cool weather and Arya spent a lot of time huddled in the shelter, and I think she gave herself ulcers in that process. We had a tough day on the line last week Monday and then Tuesday when I got on, I knew we needed to get some Nexium back into our lives; she reverted back to her explosive, behind the leg, offended by the leg and contact overly defensive self and I got off pretty quickly. She's had about a week off at this point, and has been on Nexium, and our ride last night was extremely positive. She really responded nicely to inside-leg-to-outside-rein and walk-trot-cantered both directions without dramatics or trying to bolt/kill me.
So I definitely need to get some gastric support on board ASAP, and despite myself I'm eyeballing the Gastric Care Ultium again along with G.U.T by Uckele. It feels odd that I pull her off of the gastric care feed and she relapses, but also I happened to time it with a few days stretch of misty cool days. Today it's rainy and cool, but the mares are out on the pasture after spending the night tucked into the shelter (and I've been keeping the hay nets in the shelter filled since this cool weather kicked in).
Work got busy with our system's go-live weekend fuckery, and I got a new job all at the same time, so I've missed some rides due to that, but on the whole, both horses (now that Satan's Mistress has been ulcer-medicined back into a horse I recognize) have been working really well. Bailey has been jumping a lot, lately, and we tried some of the different bits we have around to see if I could get her off her forehand and to stop leaning on my hands constantly because she was too out of shape to want to carry herself. We tried a slow twist full cheek with a Dr. Bristol center link (funky, but too much) and have been using the Beval/loop ring Shires bit I have lately, which was pretty decent. I want to add a chain or gag cheeks to it because she does tend to hang on it more than she does other bits, but we shall see. She also finally put in a very solid, polite dressage school last night - without spurs.
I've been jumping without spurs out of lazyiness and have just been carrying a crop, but the dressage school was pretty darn good. Her canter departs aren't quite as clean as they are with spurs, but she reacts to my leg (which never used to happen) and stays forward with just the occasional showing or tap of the crop. It's nice to feel like I have my old horse back, and I'm determined to keep her working and in better shape so we don't have to struggle for a month before I feel like I can ride her well.
The last bit of news I have is that because I got a new job, I bought myself a present. Because that makes sense, right? There has been a Courbette Vision dressage saddle in a delightful 33 cm tree (I have never seen a 33cm marked Courbette for sale) on Ebay that was located in Germany, and I've been lusting after it for like three months now. And after I put in my notice, I came home and got into a bit of a offer-war with the seller, and it's now on it's way towards me from Poland, I think. I need to get my tack room settled for winter, and soon will have four saddles, so I need to figure out stirrups (and I'm debating if I get normal stirrups, ones that will fit my mukluks if I ride in them, or both), leathers and covers. Arya's black Courbette Galant came with a cover from the friend I bought it from, and I purchased stirrup leathers, and had irons for it, but the cover isn't waterproof and I don't have any other strap goods left in my stash now except for a very old pair of unlined black stirrup leathers, and they aren't matched (annoying). Between the saddle and Arya's fancy new boots, she's going to be looking very spiffy!
It's been a busy couple of weeks in my life, though the riding side of my life has been pretty routine.
RE: my last post, I swapped all the girls to Ultium Competition and have added canola oil to their diets, and I'm really happy with how they look. It brought back a nice shine into Bailey's suddenly dull coat, Bizzy seems to be gaining that extra bit of weight, and Arya looks fantastic.
Before I could decide on a supplement for continued gastric support, we got some cool weather and Arya spent a lot of time huddled in the shelter, and I think she gave herself ulcers in that process. We had a tough day on the line last week Monday and then Tuesday when I got on, I knew we needed to get some Nexium back into our lives; she reverted back to her explosive, behind the leg, offended by the leg and contact overly defensive self and I got off pretty quickly. She's had about a week off at this point, and has been on Nexium, and our ride last night was extremely positive. She really responded nicely to inside-leg-to-outside-rein and walk-trot-cantered both directions without dramatics or trying to bolt/kill me.
So I definitely need to get some gastric support on board ASAP, and despite myself I'm eyeballing the Gastric Care Ultium again along with G.U.T by Uckele. It feels odd that I pull her off of the gastric care feed and she relapses, but also I happened to time it with a few days stretch of misty cool days. Today it's rainy and cool, but the mares are out on the pasture after spending the night tucked into the shelter (and I've been keeping the hay nets in the shelter filled since this cool weather kicked in).
Work got busy with our system's go-live weekend fuckery, and I got a new job all at the same time, so I've missed some rides due to that, but on the whole, both horses (now that Satan's Mistress has been ulcer-medicined back into a horse I recognize) have been working really well. Bailey has been jumping a lot, lately, and we tried some of the different bits we have around to see if I could get her off her forehand and to stop leaning on my hands constantly because she was too out of shape to want to carry herself. We tried a slow twist full cheek with a Dr. Bristol center link (funky, but too much) and have been using the Beval/loop ring Shires bit I have lately, which was pretty decent. I want to add a chain or gag cheeks to it because she does tend to hang on it more than she does other bits, but we shall see. She also finally put in a very solid, polite dressage school last night - without spurs.
I've been jumping without spurs out of lazyiness and have just been carrying a crop, but the dressage school was pretty darn good. Her canter departs aren't quite as clean as they are with spurs, but she reacts to my leg (which never used to happen) and stays forward with just the occasional showing or tap of the crop. It's nice to feel like I have my old horse back, and I'm determined to keep her working and in better shape so we don't have to struggle for a month before I feel like I can ride her well.
The last bit of news I have is that because I got a new job, I bought myself a present. Because that makes sense, right? There has been a Courbette Vision dressage saddle in a delightful 33 cm tree (I have never seen a 33cm marked Courbette for sale) on Ebay that was located in Germany, and I've been lusting after it for like three months now. And after I put in my notice, I came home and got into a bit of a offer-war with the seller, and it's now on it's way towards me from Poland, I think. I need to get my tack room settled for winter, and soon will have four saddles, so I need to figure out stirrups (and I'm debating if I get normal stirrups, ones that will fit my mukluks if I ride in them, or both), leathers and covers. Arya's black Courbette Galant came with a cover from the friend I bought it from, and I purchased stirrup leathers, and had irons for it, but the cover isn't waterproof and I don't have any other strap goods left in my stash now except for a very old pair of unlined black stirrup leathers, and they aren't matched (annoying). Between the saddle and Arya's fancy new boots, she's going to be looking very spiffy!
