July Training

I've been pretty useless all week.  Apparently, the doctor wasn't kidding when he said it might take up to 3 weeks for me to get back to normal.  And here I was thinking I would be back in the saddle by yesterday.  Uh, nope.  I managed to drive myself out to the barn on wednesday and lunge miss thing in side reins (she was lovely), but I paid for it on Thursday.  Sore, head-achey, and exhausted.
I was especially bummed because this was my last week in Knoxville for awhile.  I am moving to Nashville for the month of july for an internship, and I was hoping to get tons of saddle time in.
On the bright side, the BM and I discussed it, and figured out a training plan for Dee in July.

Understandably, the BM didn't want to ride Dee herself.  I don't blame her at all.  It's been a slow road getting Dee back into manageable riding horse mode since her nearly-year-long vacation in NY.  I've lacked the ability to be consistent with her, and while she has been quite good lately, and while I don't think of her as a threat under saddle, I can see where other people might not agree.  She has an opinion about just about everything, and she is definitely the type to test the waters... if she can intimidate, she is happy to go down that road.  Heck, there have been days (not recently, but in fall and winter) when she comes out with NO intentions of doing anything good, and I can tell within 5 seconds of picking the reins up that nothing good will happen if I try to really ride, so she is made to walk in the contact for awhile, and then goes on the lunge.  But, like I said, lately that hasn't been the case.  Lately, she comes out willing to work, or at least willing to tolerate me for 30 minutes, if she's not in a great mood.   That said, canter transitions are still pretty explosive, and if she's feeling lazy, she will pitch a fit IN the canter to try to convince you to let her go back to trot... if it doesn't work she usually just quits being stupid and gets to work, but it takes being willing to just ignore the bad behavior, kick on, and reward the good behavior.

Anyway, that was a long ramble to say I totally understand being unwilling to get on the she-beast.  She is not for everyone, and I LIKE when someone is willing to look at her and say "you know what?  I'm not the right fit for her, and I think we would be a bad combination."  That way, everyone stays happy.  But, being the AWESOME barn manager and horsewoman that she is, she contacted a former student of hers that enjoys riding temperamental mares to see if she would be interested in the gig.  Well, she is, so we arranged for the student to ride Dee twice a week, and BM to do ground work (lunging, etc) once a week.  I think it will work out perfectly.  This way, Dee doesn't get a month of vacation time (the LAST thing that lazy mare needs).  Plus, I will have to be back in Knoxville for law journal stuff midway through July, so I'm hoping to schedule a lesson on the beastie and enjoy her for the weekend (hopefully my head will be completely healed, by then!).  Silver linings, I suppose.

On an un-horse related note, I got this postcard from my mother, who is currently on a cruise of Europe:

"Don't get hurt anymore!"  Thanks, mom, I'll try not to!

Lawn Dart

Well, Dee finally managed to get me off.  I always knew that the first time she succeeded would be spectacular.  She was actually being quite good, but the second time I asked for right lead canter, rather than leaping with a little buck into it (like she sometimes does), she apparently decided to just buck. Hard.  And it MUST have been hard, because she's never managed to unseat me like that (and mare can buck).  I ended up at her ears, and at that point I knew it was all over, so I just went with it, but of course I tried to slow my fall.  Cut to an unknown amount of time later.  I was laying in the ring, on my back after being knocked out.  Still on my back, I looked around to see Dee running in panicked circles around me.  I think maybe she was upset that she might have killed the only person who actually likes her.    It took me four or five times to sit up, and when I finally got to my feet, I just remember staggering around until I managed to get to Dee, who let me use her as a crutch to get me to a chair at the side of the ring.  We stayed there for awhile, while I tried to deduce what day it was, why I was there, and what the heck happened.

Finally, I managed to get Dee up to the barn, untacked her, and put her in the wash stall (I do not remember any of this).  Finally, one of the other boarders arrived, and called an ambulance and the barn manager.  She also washed Dee down and put her away.  The paramedics said I was fine even after telling them that I lost consciousness and showing them my helmet, which now has a big crack in it, and told me I probably didn't need to go to the hospital.  So, I said goodbye to Dee and the barn manager and her boyfriend drove my car and I home.

I did end up getting checked out yesterday.  Concussion and huge bruise/lump on the back of my head, but no bleeding or fractures.  I'm pretty bummed, because this was my week off before going to Nashville for a month, and I intended to ride everyday.  Now, I can't even get a helmet on over my lump, and I'm still a little bit out of it.  I'm hoping tomorrow I'll feel ok to drive out to the barn so that I can at least lunge her.  Maybe by the weekend the swelling on my head will have gone down enough to put a helmet on.  Silly mare.

June 2013

I've been trying to take monthly shots of Dee, just to keep track of how she's looking.  I am pretty pleased with her this month!  Here is a side by side comparison of May and June:

May then June.  Maybe it's just me, but I feel like she generally looks a bit less weedy this month.

Here are a few more from the shoot:

"Don't Pet Me, I Bite"

Apparently, "Don't Pet Me, I Bite" is what the girls needed to put outside of Dee's stall last week.  For whatever reason, a bunch of middle-school age children were being brought through the barn on tours, and Dee was incredibly upset about them.  I guess she started by just making nasty faces and tossing her head at them, but that quickly escalated to bite-attempts, and yet, the kids STILL wanted to pet her and crowd her.  The kids sounded pretty out of control, and one of them even slapped a gelding across the face for no reason at all.  At that point, the BM but chains across the barn door to keep them out.  That's one more thing Dee and I have in common - being uncomfortable with large groups of children.

We've been having afternoon storms all week, which kept me from riding, but the weather is finally gorgeous, and Dee and I had a nice time today.  I found out that Dee will stand like a soldier to be groomed if I just refrain from hooking her to the cross-ties.  I don't know why this makes a difference, but she is a completely different animal when I just keep her on a lead rope in the grooming stall.  Mares.  Go figure.

She has been absolutely fantastic under saddle, too.  She still starts out being tight through her neck and back, but then she relaxes and settles into the contact.  She is even giving me little changes in the trot, which is exciting, because her former response to "trot bigger" was "I will explode and gallop like a madwoman!"  Now, when I say "trot bigger" she just says "ok!"  Now our big project is getting her right hind stronger.  That's always been her weaker leg, and it's just time.  At least she is finally trying hard and working correctly most of the time!

We had a gorgeous day to work today, and afterwards, she got lots of grass and I got some nice shots of Brietta, the BM's gorgeous filly.

Passage!

Yesterday, I took a dressage lesson on one of the school horses.  I haven't had a chance to just work on myself in a long time, so I was pretty excited for the opportunity.  The horse's name was Joey, and he is an old schoolmaster who has a few fin tricks up his sleeves.  After some lovely trot and canter work, I had the chance to do something I've always wanted to do - ride passage!  It was definitely one of the coolest things I've experienced on horseback.  Whaddaya say, Deedles, you wanna be an upper-level dressage thoroughbred?  

"No upper-level nonsense for me, thanks, I'll just eat this tasty grass."

 To her credit, Dee has been quite lovely lately (other than a brief "I will kill you mom" moment the other day).  The canter has really been coming along, and she's feeling almost as good as she felt the last summer I had her (pre-law school).  Of course, she's a lot more buck-happy than she used to be, but as long as I keep her out in front of the leg at all times, she is a complete lady.  Yesterday and today we got some steps of counter-canter in both directions, and today she was even quite rideable at trot, which isn't always the case.  While she has been behaving in trot, she never feels super rideable... and by that I mean I never feel like I can really put my leg on and ask her to give me MORE.  Today she actually let me put my leg on and gave me a few little lengthenings without losing her cool, which was exciting.

She is also much more laid back in the barn:

One of the boys

Dee had to be moved into a new pasture last week.  Since she moved to Tennessee, she has been in a large pasture with two mares.  She's actually been out with two different sets of mares, and inevitably picks the weaker one and herds it around the pasture, uses it against people trying to catch her.  So that was the other problem -- she has been very hard to catch.  Even the barn help was having to bring her dinner down to the pasture to catch her.  It probably didn't help that the two mares didn't come in, so Dee felt like she didn't want to leave her little harem.  Well, then they switched over to night turn out and apparently something changed.  I went to the barn last week, not knowing they had switched, and she was already out.  Even a bucket of grain couldn't convince her to come in.  The BM offered to help me get her, because Dee only associates her with food, but I guess Dee wasn't going to be fooled.  BM almost got the rope around Dee's neck, at which point Dee spun around and tried to kick her while she ran off.  Witch.  (That's the one thing I've never really figured out about Dee.  When she is aggressive, like threatening to kick or whatever, no amount of reprimand serves to really drive the point home.  For as many times as she has been seriously reprimanded for awfulness, she never really stops being a jerk.  She seems to take it as a challenge.  She's better than she was when she was 3, but she's still kind of nasty at times.)  We finally got her by taking the other mares out of the pasture.

The next day, I get a text from BM telling me that one of the girls went out to get Dee that morning and Dee tried to kick her when she got the rope around her.  So, they decided to move her.  The following day, I got a text telling me that Dee was actually curled up sleeping in her stall, had been a perfect lady coming in that morning, and seemed a lot more relaxed.  When I got up to the barn yesterday, she was less wild and fidgety than usual on the cross-ties, and one of the barn workers told me how great she's been to handle.  Hmm.

I then found out that her new pasture mates are geldings.  I can only conclude that the gender change of her herdmates has something to do with her 180.  She does like geldings, and I'm wondering if, because there isn't a ton of estrogen around her, she is feeling less possessive.  It was getting really out of hand, and even the BM mentioned how studdish Dee had been (hmm... second person to tell me my mare acts like a stallion... maybe something to look into).

She was quite brilliant yesterday, and I'm hoping that will continue.

Nomming on grain after being an angel for our ride.

7th Birthday

My baby is growing up!  She turned 7 on March 24, and we had a lovely celebration.  She got apples, grass, and a much, much needed bath.

Caked in mud.  Eeewww!

Dust Muffin 

Having a cuddle after her workout

After her bath!

She IS awful cute...

Nom nom nom

Gorgeous mare / gorgeous day

Modeling her new halter!

Say Cheese, Dee!

She kind of looks like a donkey in this one...

Sleepy pony

Love my baby girl

Notice how gray she is?  She is getting more and more gray.

Not sure why her stomach looks deformed...