Lesson & Koda

Soo.
I rode Teddy in my lesson. We did gridwork combined with some fun rollbacks!
Teddy turned into, "Teddy, the Barrel-Racing Wonder!" Hahaha. He was on fire! :) I love that. Whenever I ride Teddy, he absolutely comes alive. I don't want to brag or anything, but for the moment... of the people at SHRA right now... I think I've been Teddy's best rider. I don't know about previous riders that I've never seen ride him, of course, but yeahh.

And then I rode Koda.
Walk, trot, canter.
He got on his butt for a good two solid strides each direction in the canter. He was a lot calmer, too. And he's forward in the trot. And he's starting to be forward automatically at the walk. Yaaaay! :D I'm hoping we can start private lessons up again soon, and I'm hoping Kim will be impressed since he's been off for SO LONG. Ugghh.
But my baby's back now. ^_^ So I am happy.

SOUNDNESS! YAAAY!

Oookay.
So.

I've been riding school horses [Diesel, Jack, Rio - too cute!, Teddy, Ed, Barney, Truck] for the longest time now. And I still will, because Koda still has the bruise. However...

HE IS PERFECTLY SOUND IN THE INDOOR! Where there is about 6 inches of sand so its nice and soft... but he is STILL SOUND!

w00t!
whee!
oh, happy day. :)

Hahaha. I rode him Monday & Wednesday. MOM rode him Wednesday morning after I did. I know! hahaa. Just out of the blue, "Can I ride him after you're done?"
She walked around on her own, steering him and everything! And she even trotted. By herself. It was rather accidental the first time, but oh well. haha.
I told her we sould take a mother/daughter private lesson sometime, but she said no. I told her Vicky and Emily used to do it, but she still said no. :( Oh well. I think she rode yesterday because she wants to ride when we go to Hawaii. Something like that. Get a little experience, maybe. Dakota took care of her though. Dunno if the trail horsies - no matter how good they are at their job - will do as good of a job. *shrug*
We'll find out.

Less Swelling! + Mystery Project Horse

I GAVE KODA HIS PENICILLIN SHOT MYSELF THIS MORNING!
ITS A MIRACLE!
I just didn't think about it, and slammed it in there. haha. Okay, I didn't use as much force as that makes it sound. And I didn't even get a blood vessel! I nicked one on the way out [Kim always does] but I counted to 30 and he was still alive and standing, so I jumped for joy! =]

I also wrapped his leg again in towels that were soaked in epsom salt dissolved in warm water. They stayed on for an hour while I wrapped Barney's front right leg [it was tender last night with a small bump on the upper back part of the cannon bone], cleaned his stall, and refilled his buckets.

I'm going back later this afternoon [4-ish] to give him another shot and soak his leg one more time. When I left the wound itself had closed up some, and the heat and swelling were both down! Yessssh! =]



Oh, and today Kim is going to get a new off the track "project" for me. Kinda scared and excited at the same time...

Puncture Wound [WHY?!?!?!]

I turned Dakota out in the big arena Monday night so he wouldn't have to wear his crib collar. Tuesday morning, he was limping when I brought him in. Turns out, he has a puncture wound on his front right leg. Grrrreeeeaaaat. In Doug's words, "he just doesn't want me to ride him, does he?" Nope. Afraid not.

So, I've been hosing his leg for long periods of time to try and alleviate the MAJOR heat in his leg. Major, major heat. He also has lots of pus and whatnot in his leg, because when I press on it with my thumb and then take my thumb away... the thumbprint stays. Which means its serious.

Also, twice now [thanks to Doug's expertise] we've wrapped it in towels soaked in hot water mixed with Epsom Salt. That stuff works on everything! And we've given him one penicillin shot. Actually, Kim did. Tonight I'm going to have to suck it up and do it myself. *shudder* I've only ever given one shot, and that was giving Teddy his vaccines almost two years ago. But if the vaccines got in his bloodstream, I don't think they would kill him. Penicillin would KILL Dakota if it got into his bloodstream.... ACK! This is why Dad usually gives the shots. Plus, it takes considerably more force to give horses shots than it does to give humans or dogs shots.

Though, I've been riding Rio in lessons so I can jump. HE IS AWESOME! I was the first one to ever take him out back [AND jump] Saturday. Awesome. He was, and the experience was! =]
I was the first one to ever jump him in the stadium. He's a willing, BRAVE jumper. He only ran out on the tires, and I think that was just because we were following Rocky, who is evil. And hates the tires. Even when he launches over jumps, I can easily keep my balance. Awesome.


And now Kim says she has a "project horse" for me to work with while Koda is off. Again.
I was going to start jumping him Tuesday, which is when I found the puncture wound. Arrrgh.


Please, Lord, let something good come out of this!!!

3 Lessons - Many Rides!

Thursday - Private @ 2:00 with Kim.
Dakota in the indoor - w/t/c.
We're retraining him from the ground up, basically. FORWARD, FORWARD, FORWARD!

Friday - Private @ 2:30 with Kim.
Dakota in the big arena, ended in the indoor - w/t/c.
Same. But better.

Saturday - Group @ 10 with Kim.
RODE RIO! I was the first one to EVER ride him out back... ever. And he was pretty much perfect! He just needs some balance and bending and he'll be so totally awesome. So, obviously, w/t/c/j.
Then I rode Dakota in the indoor. w/t/c. Same as Thurs/Fri, but he was TOTALLY on his butt for at least THREE STRIDES at the canter in each direction instead of like... one stride.
Then I rode Rio again... in the indoor. w/t/c/j.

Last 3 Rides

Yesterday, I rode Dakota in a lesson!
w/t/c/j - we did gridwork! However, since its the first time I've jumped him, and I probably did it a few days too soon, we just did small crossrails. I stopped when Kim raised the X's or changed them to straights.

Monday, I rode Dakota in the new indoor for the second time!
w/t/c - BAREBACK!

Saturday, I lunged and rode Dakota in the new indoor for the first time! =]
Lunged: w/t/c
Rode: w/t/c
[He's been galloping around when he's turned out, so he's stayed in some semblance of shape.]

PTL - Good Vet Report!

PRAISE THE LORD!
Huge praise report. =]

Huge huge huge. Turns out... right when we got there [after the assistant guy ran Dakota up and down the driveway so Dr. White could watch how he went] the doc took some farrier's tongs [dunno the technical name for them. They're metal pliers with flat surfaces, and he pressed them on either side of Dakota's hoof] and found that my baby was sore in the HOOF! Although, he did say that the calcium deposit looked like it had been pretty bad before it healed over.

ANYWAY.. He took a thermograph, and saw that there was tons of heat in a certain spot at the bottom of the hoof. Which means there was more blood in there than there usually is. So, He took an x-ray of the calcium deposit as well [that was cool, you could see the bone and the calcium. Some of it was attached to the bone, where doc said it was prolly infected at some point, but then there was just floating calcium. pretty awesome. Sorry, sidetracked. ^_^] and saw there was no problem there. Then he took an x-ray of the bottom of the hoof and it was AWESOME again. haha. You could see little think lines going from the outside of the hoof to the inside. Doc said those were where blood vessels were. We saw the x-ray of a normal hoof, where the lines were about 1 cm wide. Then we looked back at Dakota's hoof, and his blood vessels were dilated to about 3 cm wide. So... BRUISING!

We got a formaldahyde/iodine hoof paint to put on the sole of his hoof for 6 days straight, then 3 x a week for a few weeks after that. We also got bute [painkiller in the form of a gel that you pretty much shove in their mouth using a syringe - fun, I know] to give him 2 grams daily for 6 days.

Still Lame

I rode Truck [w/t/c/j in stadium] in the Saturday 10:00 lesson. He was AWESOME! If we won the lottery, and I could own two horses, Truck would be my next choice. But I would HAVE to change his name, obviously. Who wants a horse named Truck? Anyway.

Tried to ride Dakota for a private.
He was lame.
Once again.

So, if the vet's free on Friday [either Dr. White in Sallisaw or Dr. Bullock who has a portable xray machine] he'll get it xrayed. After a month, I finally convinced my dad to get him some xrays... Actually, Saturday after I got home I had mom talk to him first. =] Strategy.

Semi-Good Ride...

walk, trot, canter, jump

He was a brat at the canter. He was still limping at the trot at first. From then on, when we trotted I always felt like I was on the wrong diagonal when I wasn't. The trot was just wierd.

We did a small crossrail and the blue lattice-work panel jump at its lowest setting. He got fast afterward, and sometimes rushed it, so we had to work quite awhile on calming down.

Once he got really bratty so I circled him hard the opposite way, AND HE SWITCHED LEADS! Then I circled him the way we'd been going, AND HE SWITCHED LEADS AGAIN! Haha. That made me happy. He sped up when I dropped my outside rein to rub his neck, but they were very smooth, awesome flying lead changes.

Eckk.

Did dressage with Dakota again last night...
He didn't do nearly as well.

I guess that's a lesson learned. Never do it exactly the same twice in a row. Or at least not without Kim there.

Group + Private = Eventing Day

Hahaha. So, I rode Truck in my group lesson at ten this morning. AWESOME! He is the bravest, most awesome horse ever. If I could own two horses, I would totally try to buy Truck. I would HAVE to change his name, but I would definately try to buy Truck.

We did w/t/c. VERY heavy on the forehand, hard to bend, but he would go on the bit and he was forward. Jealous of his free walk, wish Dakota had it.
Jumped in STADIUM! I was SO happy! I haven't jumped in OVER a MONTH! I was actually getting kind of depressed watching other people jump and just having to sit there...

Private lesson!
I rode Koda. We did DRESSAGE! =] So, I kind of had a "combined" day. haha. We worked a TON on our WALK. His walk is horrendus. But, by the end of the lesson he was forward, somewhat on the bit, and he was reaching and stretching out. We even got him to stretch his neck down for his free walk! ^_^ Excitement!
The trot we worked on and got much much much better. Our great trot led into an AWESOME transition to the canter, and a much smoother canter.

All in all..
GREAT day!
Even my mom said I was much happier today than I've been for a long time. It was theraputic for me today, I believe.

Turned Out Yesterday

I turned out with him.
Just walk/trot.
He was happy about it though. =]

Bareback w/t.

4 Rides - Great Day! ^_^

Rode Dakota in the lesson - w/t/c for warm-up. Trotted w/o stirrups, cantered w/o stirrups before he started limping.

Rode Rocky - w/t. LEANED LIKE A MOTORCYCLE!!! I was afraid he'd fall over if we cantered he was leaning so bad! Decided to put him back through Clinton Anderson boot camp before he gets shipped off again. =[

Rode Panther bareback - helped Jamie turn out, and I w/t/c'd her to push everyone out.

Rode SPOT! @ Jamie's house... just did w/t, in her western saddle, no stirrups because I COULDN'T REACH THEM. haha. But, I got a rash on my thighs from riding in shorts w/o stirrups.

Turned Out on Horseback

Yes. I did w/t/c on Dakota bareback. Trot was okay... I'm thinking canter in our lesson was better yesterday. He's started leaning a tiny bit again...
We walked all the way out back to check the hay, then I turned out the rented group on Koda. Then I untacked at the barn and let him go out with his group and hopped on Panther.

I couldn't ride Rocky today, so I got my workout in on Panther bareback. Wore a saddle with Dakota. =]

Lesson - Sorta

Since I'm going to be at Jamie's house saturday morning, and NOT at the barn [once again... heh.] I took a lesson tonight.

We just did w/t/c.
Today was the second day I cantered him since him being off. He also had random lame moments in the very beginning, but once we were fully warmed up, he was fine. Not a foot out of place.


Hoping to be in shape for the August 30 show... Why is it that I'm ALWAYS rushing to be ready for shows?

Coming Back!

I have successfully ridden Dakota for the first time since he last injured himself, OVER a month ago. HECK YES!

He was PERFECT.
Walk, trot, CANTER.
[I've been lunging him, so he was good to canter a few circles each way.]

He's VERY stiff, but after ten mintues of walk, he's halfway decent. [Small, small circles @ walk.]
I did plenty of figure eight's at the trot.
Canter was NIIIIICE!


He was on his butt, I did NO work [except for some speed control] and I LOVED it! Kimberly witnessed it... she said it was impressive as well! It was so smooth, I felt like I was riding Chase!

I <3 My Horse.

Injured - AGAIN!

So... I haven't updated in forever because Dakota got injured again.
I'm HOPING I can start riding him this week again.


*sigh*
He cut right under his front left ankle. Then when he was limping [we're guessing] he stepped wrong and fell and scraped his front LEFT KNEE. Arrrgh.

Saturday, Big Arena & Sunday: Hack/Dressage

Saturday: Walk, trot, canter, jump.
He was off balanced, and pretty heavy on the forehand. Acted off at the trot when he was heavy on the forehand. I got off, felt his legs, checked his hooves, nothing was wrong. No new cuts, no heat, no new bumps. So I got back on, got him off his forehand, and he was fine.
Went straight back on forehand when we started jumping.
Rode with Renee around 10 pm.

Sunday:
Creek was flooded... I rode with Kimberly & Nicole on Lucky. We went over the bridge anyway. Walking through the water was kinda fun. ^_^

Walk, trot, canter, NO jump.
We walked out back, but it was too muddy to do anything more than walk. So we walked back through the creek, Koda had a bit of an issue with being "left behind" so we waited until he could stand still then went to the dressage arena.
Trotting consisted of many changes of direction around the gymnastics line jumps.
Canter was alright. Better than Saturday, at least. And I wasn't thrown around. He counter-bent and leaned a bit because Doug had some machinery out and when we cantered by him Dakota got distracted.

My Lesson & Dad's Lesson

Soo... I missed documenting Saturday's lesson. I haven't seen Kim in SO LONG [I mean, lesson-wise]. LAST Saturday I was in DC, and the TWO Saturday's before that Jamie taught, and the saturday before THAT, I believe I didn't go for some reason or another. *sigh* So, anyways. Kim was hoping for some big improvement.

Walk: We're free-er and lighter on the forehand! He is learning to adjust the speed of his walk and the length of his stride to the rhythm of MY hips. In other words, I'm just controlling it with my body, and I'm not having to use my hands to slow him down anymore! Yaay. :P Kim was impressed with the walk.

Trot: Still free-er! :D He's not aloud to trot in biiiig circles or straight lines for long amounts of time [ie - more than 6 strides. :P] otherwise he'll get heavy and stiff and become totally uncollected.

Canter: Can collect a **tad** bit more. My upper body is no longer getting tossed all over the place like a rag doll. I could still get a bit quieter in the saddle.


******
Sunday.

I got out my western saddle.
Walk/trot/canter.
Walk was still free! Trot was a bit choppy and we didn't have much rhythm. But we don't use the western saddle all that much, and I still don't feel as connected to him in it, so that might be why.

We went out to the rented and *attempted* to gallop. I think we were on the verge into really breaking out every time we got to the point where we had to start slowing down. Not enough room to really gallop. :(

Then my dad got on! hahaha.
He can steer just fine at a walk, and doesn't bounce around all that much at the trot. Next up, I need to teach him to post.

Monday - Puncture Wound

Yep... Monday Dakota got a puncture wound. I can almost fit the entire pad of my little finger in it.

mm... lovely, isn't it? >.<

This ALWAYS happens when I'm about to go out of town! Always!

Saturday - Gridwork

Jamie taught again! YAAY! It was the day after Kim's wedding and the day after my birthday. :P

Anyways...
Walk, trot, canter, jump.
Bounce to a two stride, to a one stride oxer.

And Dakota didn't like to go slow. Right behind the two stride, Jamie waved another jump pole at us and yelled.... and I fell off. She warned me to stick my feet out infront of me and lean back, but she DIDN'T say I wouldn't be going over the jump. Usually they move out of the way after slowing us down.... but no. Jamie didn't.

So........ I fell off. But it was AWESOME!!! I landed on my FEET! Then Dakota drug me a good three feet, with my heels in the sand. And I spun a jump standard around when I landed right next to it. haha.

Yesterday - Bareback

Well... my locker's lock got stuck. So I used Kimberly's helmet and Shauna's whip and couldn't get to my gloves... which resulted in me ripping some skin off my finger during my ride. *sigh*

Bareback!
Walk, trot, canter, jump. [crossrail and red panel jump w/o rail on top]
He was okay. Still learning to be as nice without saddle as with. :)

Lesson

Jamie taught! YAY! I got excited when I pulled up and saw her big macho truck. :D

Walk, trot, canter, jump.
7 jump course.

We were collected [for the most part], got correct spots [for the most part], and were off our forehand!!! [for the most part]. haha.


All in all, a good day.
Then I rode Jack out in the rented [w,t,c] with Kimberly & Nikky.
Then I stuck my halter on Dakota and sat on him bareback for awhile before we turned out.

Pretty Extensive Workout

First of all... I did a summer camp-esque demonstration for two girls in my youth group. [They're kinda part of the outreach at my church, & my mom has gotten attached to them.... I say that like they're puppies, but they aren't. :) haha. anyway.]


So, English saddle:
Walk, trot, canter, jump, 6-7 jump course [that I made up on the spot].

Western saddle:
Walked the 2 girls for about 30 minutes.
I got back up and tried to hit a gallop in the arena, hard to with the space.
Convinced Kimberly to hack.
Galloped out a good 5-6 times. And I mean GALLOP! It was amazing! I just found out my horse has a turbo button! :)

Then we walked them home because the wind picked up enough to spook US! And there were scary-looking clouds, and we live in tornado alley in tornado season, so... heh. We walked 'em home on foot.

Bareback

Well...
Today I had the intention of going out and lunging Dakota with sidereins, because I need to do that more. Much, much more.
But instead, I threw a thick saddle pad and a bridle on him, and hopped on. :)

Walk, trot, canter.
Big arena.

He was fairly good at bending, much better at impulsion with my new leg position... ehh, he was passable with head carriage. Not convinced he wasn't stiff in the poll. But better.

Head came up with upward transitions.

No stopping square, pretty much... at all.

Hacked Out - Yesderday

Lunged Dakota with sidereins in dressage: walk, trot & canter.
Hacked out in the rented with Kimberly & Nikky:
Galloped out 3-4 times & cantered both ways getting him on his butt.
Jumped a few tiny logs.

He wasn't out of breath... ever. We're staying in shape! :)



Side note: MUCH better attitude today.

Gallery Farm Show April 20

Hmm... Well, I guess I'll start this Training Journal on the best note ever: winning 2nd in Beginner Novice at the Gallery Farm show!

A girl I didn't know who had a push-button pony beat me out, but if we'd tied for the dressage score [and we almost did, I needed one more point to tie!] I would have won because I was 9 seconds under optimum time on cross country, and she was like... a minute and a half under optimum time.

Beginner Novice class:
1. Random Girl.
2. Me on Dakota ["Kodak Moment"]
3. Shauna on Dash
4. Nicole on Eeyore

Kimberly got 3rd on Chase. Poor Abby got disqualified in XC - Flicka refused the 2nd jump 3 times. But they had been in first after dressage!