One step closer..

Every week shadow is improving tremendously.

Saturdays have turned into quite the busy day at the barn with back to back lessons for Dom and I really enjoy the time to get away from the real world and worry about what makes me happy. 

The last two Saturdays were like, my first real lessons I guess you could say. No lunging and Dom didn't ride first, just me and shadow and Dom on the ground teaching, which I'm really enjoying.

This past weekend he really felt great and he offered so really beautiful canter. Dom took some photos but we didn't get any of him cantering because we weren't ready, lol. Dom said it was a real canter there was no pace to it at all, great! 

He is really improving at the walk, it's almost perfect and he is really getting the hang of the free walking. For the last two weeks I have gone home all smiles. Just the thought of how well he is doing after I though our whole game plan was out the window with how lame he was at the beginning of spring.

The regimen I have him on is working wonders and I didn't even have to put the wedges on him, which makes me even happier. 

I really can't even say how proud I am, he is really coming along better than I could have expected so far. 

Head shot of my handsome by Dom

Never imagined him to look this good 

Top is august of last year and bottom was this past Saturday, major improvements!! 

WW:Birthday Love

Saturdays

I absolutely look forward to lessons every week :)

Shadow has been showing so much improvement, a little more every week.

I have been very sick with shingles (ouch), so I haven't done anything with him because of the amount of pain I am so when Dom came this Saturday I warned her that he might be a little off from being out of work.

To my surprise he was wonderful! The ground was super wet, but he managed. He looks very sound and not stiff at all, he it trotting beautifully on the lunge line, with a small amount of antics on his bad side because he is fighting the pain I suppose.

While Dom was lunging, she took a split second to look at me and ssay something, and Shadow decided in the split second he was going to buck and he pulled the line right out of Dom's hand. He took off running around us like a crazy horse. (i think he was trying to run away from the evil lunge line that was following him.) lol

He was completely sound and looked so beautiful in his natural gait. He had his head up and his tail up and he was moving so freely. I wish i could have gotten some of it on video but i was too busy staring at him. He looked wonderful, although not what we wanted, he warmed himself up. lol

We worked on some side passing on the ground, which he did pretty well and some turning.

He is still struggling a little on his bad stifle, but he is looking so much better, he even offered some beautiful canter while Dom was on him, and he held it for more than 2 strides, if the ground wasn't so wet I'm sure he would have kept going.

I hope to get some photos/videos for you guys next week. He is doing so well. I don't think I am going to have to put the wedges on him after all! I am going to take another month to observe him improvements/ strength and go from there.

This saturday we are going to pull his mane too, that should be fun!

I can't even express how happy I am with his improvements and with the team Shadow, Dom and I have formed together. I have set a time frame of next summer to get him to where he needs to be and out shows at a healthy 17 years old. Lol Dom thinks it is a perfect time frame and I couldn't be more excited.

Nothing but positive vibes :)

Blog Hop: Appreciate What You Have

Let's take a moment to appreciate the Pros of our current ponies, whether you own them or just ride them in lessons. 

Totally stole this from Dom, figured it was a good opportunity to take a break from my hectic work week. 

Shadow

Happy and Handsome with his politced leg :)

He was an impulse buy, or adoption, no doubt about it. 

I had been thinking about getting back into the horse world for a little while and he basically fell into my lap.

I wanted a teenager to get back into it knowing that I'm not the rider I used to be. 

I haven't even had Shadow for a year yet, but I will say I have never had a bond with any other horse the way I do with him. 

He keeps me humble, teaches me patience and can always put a smile on my face with him hammy antics. 

So we won't be able to do any kind of jumping, but he has opened my eyes to a new discipline and I am excited to rehab him back to where we left off and start a new adventure. 

He isn't everything I had hoped, but he is more caring, forgiving and full of heart that I could have ever expected. Even being hurt, he gives me his all, almost as if he understands that doing what I ask will only help him, and that I would never hurt him. 

Out of all the horses I have ever owned, He will always be the one nearest to my heart. He is my boy and I wouldn't trade him or his flaws for anything in the world. I wouldn't want anyone else by my side or on my team and I think he knows he is with me forever, no matter what and that he could never let me down. 

Love my boy. 

Update

We have a stifle injury.

Solution: work work work.

I need to work him to strengthen it, which is not a problem. He will get worked.

Keep him on his smartpak, obviously.
I asked if adequan or something like that would benefit him more, he said no what I have him on is just fine.

Put him on previcox, 1 tablet once a day.

Rub his stifle down before riding to "warm" it up or a poultice

Aluminum wedges, in the back only, Raising up his heel will help the stifle.


Done and Done. :)

LAME.

So spring is finally here, I guess.

LESSONS HAVE FINALLY STARTED AGAIN!! YAY!

Dom was out on Saturday for our first session for the season, which I have to say I was super excited about.

As we all know this winter wasn't easy on anyone, apparently Shadow included. 

Bonni and I had noticed he has been limping on his back right for a few weeks now. I have hoping it was just stiff from all this brutal cold and kept bouncing it back and fourth from her brain to my brain. 

I don't know if any of you remember from my past post or Dom's but we noticed an issue when I first got him home, but as we started working it more, it seemed to fade away. 

Well it's still here, and way worse than it was last season. 

If first couple trips around on the lunge line, he looked just about dead lame to me, but he worked it out and started to move better as the lesson went on.

 Dom finally got on his back and she said "his walk feels much more lateral then it was when he left off in November, and he feels like he is wiggling his spine"

My excitement slowly turned into worry. I watched as they went on, my poo shadow tripping all over himself, in the back. As Dom put it, it's like he is trying his hardest to put his feet where they belong and that back leg is just not cooperating. Which is causing his tripping in the back and then tripping in the front trying to catch himself. 

As far as remembering, he does, and he tried his heart out. He made me very proud of him, and he was EXHAUSTED, He lost all his muscle and fitness and that will all come back in time. This year I will have a full season working with Dom, and I can't wait to see his progress once I get his issue diagnosed. 

Hip/hock/stifle?

"If you think it's stifle it's probably hock" is something Dom has been told and has passed on to me.

When I ask him to pick up that foot, just to pick his hoof or whatever it may be, instead of just picking it up for me, he pushes it out almost like, into me to hold it for him because he cant or as if he is trying to adjust it himself. 

So what is it? I have no idea, do I wait and see if it is a fitness issue and gets better or do I get it looked at?

My vet is due to come out tomorrow at 11 so hopefully we weigh our options before I just jump to getting x-rays done. I don't want to take the chance of anything getting worse or hurting him more. I don't want to sit back and see what happens, I did that last season, but it was more predominant this year and I don't want to push it. 

Maybe he needs injections? Maybe something stronger than the supplement I have him on. 

I have talked to a couple people about using adequan, and previcox, which we use on  several of our horses already on the farm.

I will update everyone tomorrow after I meet with my vet, hope it turns out to be a quick fix, I get so nervous, I never want anything to be wrong with my boy he has so much potential and I want him to be able to preform in the way he tries to. 

ugh. 

Dressage

I think I mentioned in my last post that I have decided to play around a bit with the idea of dressage for Shadow and I.

I had a beautiful saddle out on trial, but something about it just wasn't sitting right, and I didn't want to risk Shadows back or my money on a saddle I wasn't 100% sold on. I returned the saddle to it's owner and thanked her very much for the time she allowed me use it.

Then, my wonderful boyfriend came through and bought me a brand new wintec dressage saddle. He really is the best! I was so excited to get it home, and it came pretty quickly! It was still very snowy when it came and too icy to try it out so I put it all together to see how it looked, put it over Will's legs and sat on it! I wanted to feel the seat. hahaha, I'm a little crazy.

I brought it out the barn and the first nice 50 degree day we had I was on a mission to get in it! It fit Shadow beautifully and it is just about the most comfortable thing I have ever sat in, in my entire life!

So comfy!! 

Dom and I are supposed to start up lessons at the end of this month, but now with the snow, who knows. Hopefully this will melt quickly, and we'll be done with this winter so we can get on schedule.

I have done no riding this winter, as I have said in almost all my posts through the season, lol. Saturday was a pretty nice day, so I thought I would go out and lunge Shadow because he has been very up and crazy the few times I've been on him and the ground was finally dry enough to do it, but of course, there is always something that slows me down.

I took a walk around to say good morning to every one, because I apparently was there during nap time and every single horse on the farm was laying down, Shadow included. After that I went back to my car to finish my coffee, when I look out into Shadow's field and I see him RUNNING at mach 10 speeds with his tail all the way up towards the back of his field.

Nap time for Clue and PB

I took a minute to wonder what this crazy horse was doing, then I looked at the back corner of his field and I see his fence ON THE GROUND. When I tell you, he was running at that fence, he was really running, like, a grand prix jumper or something. I could just picture him yelling I'M FREE!!!! as he was heading back there.

His field is against another, but it is an old abandoned field that is not part of our barn, so it is falling down as well. I jumped out of my car and yelled for him, and he actually stopped and looked at me, so then I ran to the back corner, with him trotting behind me, and tried to block him from jumping over it, lol.

I called Bonni, while Shadow was standing behind me with his nose flared and his ears and tail up SNORTING like a bull at the fence. I couldn't stop laughing. I'll never understand why things like this always happen to me when I'm alone. On another note, THANK GOD I was there! I feel like I would have been going down the road later to get to the barn and Shadow would have been on the side of the road somewhere, or in the woods, or stolen!!! lol

Sneak Peek! lol 

Needless to say, my day of riding turned in to a day of helping put the fence back up, which was pretty entertaining. Thank god for Bonni and her husband, because I don't know how I would have handled that if they weren't around. haha

So now, I am just waiting for the snow to get out of here so I can start working with Dom. So excited to get moving again and I miss her like crazy!!

Happy spring every one (on Thursday)!!

Fat Fuzzy Monster.