Monday, July 29, 2013

Starting Over

That is what is happening with Gambler's training, basically. I have restarted lessons with my amazing barn owner, as of yesterday. Gambler is now being taught how to carry himself properly from the hind end, and we are teaching him how to collect, as well as stretch out. I'm very happy with this opportunity, and I absolutely love my barn owner to the moon and back for giving me an amazing opportunity to be a working student of hers!

Yesterday, our lesson was great. Heather rode Gambler for about 45 minutes, and then I got on him and did the same things that she had been teaching us. The last few minutes, he was doing great, and was really starting to move correctly! Hooray! I wish I could report today was the same. Nope. Today, Gambler was very sassy and decided cooperating was not part of his agenda. He tried to buck me off. My lovely, wonderful, calm horse. Okay, so he didn't really try to buck me off. He bucked three times consecutively. I sat there and laughed. It did not work.

In other news, I had a wonderful, fantabulous, perfect, amazing ride on John Wayne today!! We did our basic flat work, working predominantly on our canter, as it was a bit of a problem for both of us (leads for him, and my position). We got it, though! Then, we did cavelettis, cavelettis to a cross rail, then small oxer... THEN. We did our first gymnastic!! He was very good! We finished the ride with a hack in the big field with my friend Laney. John was a star!! Oh, I love that horse. Heather is taking Lucky Luke back tomorrow and possibly John Wayne (we aren't sure that he's 100% sound, he takes a weird step now and again, but it could just be a weird balance thing)... She will come back with one or two new prospects! I am excited and feeling very blessed to have this superb opportunity to ride such great horses!

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Happy Happy Happy

Today was perfect. I love my ponies. They are the best, and know exactly how to make my day even better.

I had an amazing ride on John Wayne. I can tell he is going to be such a star. We had such a good ride, seriously. It has left me feeling happy all day. He was a little nervous when we got into the barn, because Lucky Luke was running the fence and calling out to him. But with some loving words, he quickly calmed down. I messed around with his ears today, throwing the reins over his head multiple times until he calmed down, because he got majorly freaked out about that yesterday. Our ride was wonderful. We worked first on lots of bending. My main goal of our ride was to get him bending off my leg nicely, and I can say we accomplished that! I also wanted him to feel comfortable enough to stretch out some more, and he was great about that as well! At that trot, we did about a million and a half circles of varying sizes. I also taught him how to lengthen his side down the long side of the arena, and then shorten it around the shorter side. This was a bit of a task, because at the beginning of our ride, he thought let meant "GO INTO NEXT GAIT" and sitting back/deeper meant "slow down into lower gait!". Interesting observation about polo horses. He is so responsive, I can ride him almost strictly off my seat! Canter work, we practiced not giving me a heart attack going around the corners. I do not like motorcycle turns, thank you very much. He was also a lot better about getting his leads today, and picked up the canter immediately today. Heather came down to the ring briefly, and set up some poles and a tiny cross rail for me; I had been planning on doing strictly flat work, but we went over the poles a few times. He was so excited about it today, and was jumping the cross rail, even though it was legit only like 6 inches. We finished the ride with some trotting and cantering in the field. I really love this horse!

After that ride, I set out on the very long adventure that was calling the horses. It took me forever to have them come! I basically walked around the field calling for them before they finally came running... Which of course was very pretty to watch.

But, it meant I was short on time! I contemplated just doing join up with Gambler and then grazing him, but I decided to ride... Bareback!

This was the first time I have ridden Gambler bareback! I was not sure what he would think, but he was great! He was also really good about me getting on him today, which made me very happy; it was the beginning to a perfect ride! Seriously. He was perfect. And I cried because he was so amazing. True story.

I can't even begin to put into words how amazing this horse is. He is my everything (aside from Jesus). It just blows my mind, thinking about how amazing this horse is. He has been the light in my dark, he is always there, to make me smile, even if it's through some tears. And no matter how much he frustrates me, I am utterly head over heels in love with this animal. After Hunter, I never ever thought I would find that one horse who completes me again. But I did, in Gambler. He can make the worst day perfect. Just seeing him, or that flip flop feeling in my heart when he's galloping with the herd, but then sees me and comes over, and puts his head on my shoulder. And he is just so freaking amazing. I don't care if we run around the field for the rest of our lives, and never win a single ribbon. I don't. Because the fact that we have beat so many odds, the fact that we are still together after so much, is priceless to me. I have almost lost this animal so many times. And even something happens tomorrow, and we lose each other.... Well, the fact that I have had all of these precious moments with him makes it okay.

I was thinking today... really thinking. About how far we've come. When I got Gambler, he had been to death's door already. I saw it in him. He was a bag of bones, a sad, pathetic, pile of bones. And then he got fat on my love. And he frustrated me beyond measure. The first week I had him, I almost gave up. And then we started getting somewhere. But then that came to a halt, because of his injury. And those two months that he was in King George? It changed my life, absolutely, forever. Those were the best two months of my life. Which is proof that there is always a silver lining, you just have to look for it. After that one long month of stall rest, he started his training again. I got to put his first ride on him, first trot, first canter. Then, we were all alone again once we moved back up here. But things were good, great even, for a while. Until the person who was originally going to adopt him passed away. It shook me to the core, and broke me into a million pieces. I didn't want Gambler anymore. I almost gave him away. But then God sent someone into our lives who helped me fix us, and put the pieces back together. And there have been hard days since then. Days when I thought I was going to lose him. People have doubted us, told me I was stupid to get myself into this. I doubted us, I almost gave up. But his nicker, him laying his head on my shoulder, his goofy self... It makes me realize how crazy I was. He still frustrates me. The reason I rode bareback today is because I didn't want to deal with his shenanigans of tacking up. We still have far to go, many things to learn. But right now, I am so happy with him. And I love him. And so I felt the need to write a huge sappy paragraph summing up the roller coaster of my horse ownership. With sentences that start with the word "and", sentences that are poorly formed. Moving on.

But really. This animal. He is just amazing. Even on his worst days, he's more amazing then I ever will be. Our ride today? Best ride I have ever had on him. I blasted my country music, sang along... and then just rode in silence, with my eyes closed tight, me hugging his neck and letting him wander around the ring where he wanted (he walked over to the gate, grabbed onto it with his teeth, and stepped back, as if he were trying to open it. Do you see why he's so freaking perfect for me? His personality is hilarious and goofy, I love) and thanking Jesus and telling my horse how much I loved him.

And here's the icing on the cake. I walked Gambler around the field a little bit before going up. Feeling adventerous, I decided we should trot up the hill (I had already trotted around in the ring). Well, we get to the bottom of the hill, and I could feel Gambler wanting to run, but waiting for me to give the signal. So I let him. And it was amazing. This is what horse ownership is about. I have never felt closer to my horse before. I got off him, and hugged him, and maybe cried a little. Because this is the bag of bones I bought last year. The one people said I couldn't train. Look at us now. <3




Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Gambler and Beth!


Yesterday, my friend Beth came to the barn! She lives in Hawaii and I know her through some other riding friends. She was here in DC this week, so of course she had to come ride my pony!






















It was interesting to watch her ride Gambler. He was very confused. He's really a one person horse. Only myself, Madi and my trainer can actually ride him successfully; I wouldn't really know because no one else really rides him, but Beth had a hard time and seeing as she is such a gifted rider, I would think others who aren't used to him would too. In any case, it was very cute to see her riding him, and he was very good for me when I rode him too. Now some photo spammin'. D'yup. Enjoy, all of my nonexistent readers!


It was so awesome though, Beth had a huge smile on her face the entire time!


 I had a very good ride on Gambler. I hadn't ridden him in quite a while! He was very well behaved, though. We mainly did work in the field, because that is where he is happiest. Working on bending. We also rode in the ring really briefly and did a tiny grid that Lyric had been doing earlier. He was uninterested! Oh well.

We finished the ride with a wonderful gallop up the hill. My favorite part about him is that he is generally pretty level headed. Who else can say that their super green five year old can gallop sanely? Of course I am now probably jinxing it... so if I die tomorrow we'll know why!

It is always so awesome to get back on Gambler after time off. As much as I love all of the other horses I get to ride, there is something very special about Gambler. I just adore him. He is my special pony. Ah. I love that animal.




Anhidrosis

The weather last week was insane! It was consistently between 105 and 110 degrees every day! Needless to say, I didn't get much riding in! I was camp counseling all week so my schedule wasn't very permissive anyway. I lunged Gambler for about 20 minutes on Wednesday, but that was all the work he got that week; we were both drenched in sweat by the end. I hosed him off every day, but didn't ride because of the heat. 

Friday, however, I was hopeful! I went out to the barn around 6pm fully intending to ride. When I caught Gambler, I noticed something was wrong. He was breathing very heavily and deeply. I of course freaked out, my mind going to worse case scenario. It took my two hours to cool him down. Hose, sweatscrape, repeat. 



The purpose of this post is just to say, please please PLEASE be mindful of the heat and how your horse is taking it. Don't ride if your horse is hot and always cool them down correctly after a ride.
A lot of people make the mistake of just hosing, and then turning out. Please hose your horse off until the water coming off them is not hot. And sweat scrape. For the love! "Researchers showed that cool to cold water poured or sprayed over a horse's skin wets the horse, and the very thin layer of water actually contacting the horse's skin is super heated quickly to the horse's body temperature. The rest of the water being sponged or dumped or sprayed on the horse merely sheets over that initial one- to two-cell water layer on the horse. The initial water actually acts like a raincoat and does not allow other water molecules to contact and cool the skin, so the horse can in fact become hotter even while being cooled off." (VeterinaryNews.com)

Also, I think Gambler has anhidrotic tendencies. Agh! He wasn't sweating enough last week, considering how heated and distressed his was. 


Here are some things that I learned about anhidrosis and how to treat it. 


  • Guinness Beer! Yes, weird. Apparently something about the hops helps; the darker the beer, the better!
  • OneAC or Let 'Em Sweat are good supplements
  • The biggest thing is getting the horse out of the heat! So stalled with fans is always best
  • Sponging on the legs/poll and chest
  • Give the horses salt or electrolytes (gatorade, holla!)
  • Apple cider vinegar!
Not sweating can also be caused from a thyroid issue. However, the causes/treatments are still not conclusive. Best to check with your vet! I am happy to say Gambler has now started sweating normally and is not breathing heavily - must've been our nasty heatwave!

John Wayne and Lucky Luke

Luke :) 
We got two new horses in today! They were not what I was expecting at all... When Heather texted me this morning asking me to come out and ride two new horses, I was expecting a new dressage prospect. Nopety-nope-nope.

Two polo ponies! That we are going to teach to jump! :)

Heather and her sister had gone to a polo school in Upperville this morning to ride lots of horses (they have over 90!!) to decide which ones were best, and these two were their top picks. Lucky Luke and John Wayne!

Luke meeting Gambler :) Love this picture! 








They are currently in the upper field, to get to know the herd over the fence. We also don't have stalls available for them yet! So they will probably just hang out up there for a while. John Wayne is very hard to catch! It will be interesting catching him when he is in the big field!

They are both Chestnuts. Lucky is 15 hands and John is 15.2, and a lot stockier. Heather got them because there is a leaser who is thinking about getting a horse for her family.

Well, I got to ride both of them! It was so much fun. They are both still a little confused about direct reining, but were both so good.

I love polo horses. They are so unflappable. They have a pretty rough life as polo horses, so I think they will be so happy to have a fun, relaxing life here! They were both super well behaved on the ground.

They also had no idea what treats were! Or a bucket of grain that we were shaking to try to catch them! They will love their new pampered life!

JW on the left, LL on the right 
So, what we did in our ride was pretty simple. We started off just walking around the ring and I kept encouraging both of them to stretch down, as they naturally carry their necks pretty high and are tense. John was really good about this! Then, we did lots of trot work, mainly on a smaller circle. They were both great about this. I was able to canter Luke on the small circle as well, but with John I cantered him around the whole ring. They both have never been ridden in rings before! So going in a circle was kind of confusing to both of them! But they both picked it up very well.

Then, we moved on to trotting some poles, and building up to a little jump! Lucky was not into actually jumping the jump! Which was kind of funny. He did jump it once. John was a different story, he loved it! We had to get the jump bigger until he actually started jumping it, but he was so good! Oh man, I am so excited for the next few months! We are just keeping John, because Heather's sister found out that Lucky has an old injury. Perhaps when he goes back, we'll pick up another one.
Enjoying their new life already! :) 

In any case, it is going to be so much fun! I am so glad that I get to start getting back into jumping!






Sunday, July 14, 2013

Calves... Burning...

So. I had a lesson with my friend Madi today. I will probably talk about her a lot on this blog. She's honestly one of my best friends. She has helped Gambler and I through so much, and has stood by us through thick and thin. She rides Gambler for me on Saturdays, which is such a blessing and a help. Gambler really loves her, even though she makes him work really hard! Madi - if you're reading this; I love you. You're amazing. Thank you for everything.

Today, I rode Gambler in his new Myler! He seemed to like it a lot! He needs his teeth done, I think. He hasn't had his teeth done since September, and he's been grinding his teeth a lot. Maybe I need to retreat him for ulcers. BLAH. Always something! Luckily, I am camp counseling this week so making some extra money.

Anyways. Gambler was pretty good about being tacked up. It's so much easier when there is another person to help me. He was also great about the mounting block; again, because Madi was holding him. We warmed up with our normal serpentines, figure eights, and the like. He started off so stiff. I think partially because I haven't ridden him since Tuesday; I don't know. So I worked on just having him open up, alternating leg pressure.

Oh! It was so funny, I tapped him with the crop on the butt for the first time ever... He wanted to have a meltdown, but wasn't sure how. I could tell he was thinking about rearing, but he didn't, luckily. He is such a good boy. He backed up a little, but stopped within a few seconds, and walked on afterwards. We took the crop back a few minutes later, and he was a perfect gentleman. Note: I am not some mean person who is always smacking my horse with a crop. I have started carrying the crop lately but honestly it is just a mental thing for him, even though he has never been hit with it before, he knows that when I carry a crop, I am expecting him to move forward and that I could use it as a reinforcement. No, I am not some animal abuser. I believe that if you hit/smack/discipline a horse once, and it doesn't work, from thereon out, it is "abuse". I use that term reluctantly, because obviously it's not abuse unless you're repetitively hitting your horse, but it is not necessary, nor going to get you results if it doesn't work the first or second time.

Madi also had me working on not just using my heel, and using my calves. Hard work, I tell you! My calves are going to be burning tomorrow, hence the title. But, it was so interesting to see how much quicker Gambler responded and dropped his head low, stretching out more. It was great to see. I am going to continue working on that this week. Hopefully my calves will get more toned, to boot! We finished the ride with a walk up the hill. It's very interesting, Gambler is much more apt to bend correctly and stretch out in the field. I guess he just likes it there better.

We finished the day with a nice hose down, stretches and of course hugs and pictures!

This horse makes me smile, so, so big 

Being goofy while hosing down! He's not amused by my antics

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Shenanigans

I was really hoping that my first post back could be something about how stellar and wonderful my horse is, but alas. Don't get me wrong, he is definitely stellar and wonderful. He just choses not to be a lot of the time. Teenagers, sigh. That's probably what my mother thinks about me a large portion of the time, too!

Before I tacked Gambler up, I decided that we were long overdue for some loose work in the ring, so we headed down to the ring. He was SUCH A BUTT when I was opening the gate, he JAMMED his head into my chest and nearly knocked me over. Jerk. So, I backed him up like sixty feet, and then he was more than happy to give me my personal space. When in the ring, I sent him off at a trot, and it took about five minutes for us to join up, which is longer than usual. After that, I decided we'd work on the mounting block, even though he wasn't tacked up. I didn't get on him of course, seeing as I didn't have my helmet on, but I would just stand and lean on him. My new means of making him stand is that whenever he moves, I send him off at the trot for a few laps, switching directions one or two times, and then trying again. He pretty quickly decided that standing still was a much better option, so hooray for that.

Tacking up was a little less good than usual. Gambler is finally consistently standing like a normal, sane horse for being tacked up, which is fabulous and makes me want to start break dancing and singing because he used to be so, so horrible. Today, he sort of was horrible, but not really. He was just really ADD and thought that Punch was way more interesting than being tacked up. So we had a slight conversation about that. By the time that I was taking him down to the ring, Sally had started feeding, and Gambler decided that there was no way that he would walk down to the ring. Sally ended up walking behind us and tapping him on the butt every time he stopped, and he started walking very nicely, AKA wanting to trot and run me over. Oh well.

Then the real fun started. And when I say fun, I mean, the whole long process of mounting. Yay. It took us, oh, forty minutes? And I didn't even get on from the mounting block, I got on from the ground because I was 200% fed up with my horse's stupidity. I don't think I've ever been angrier at him, honestly. I hate when I get angry at him, because then I do stupid things like yanking hard on the lead rope to back him up, and smacking him. Honestly, smacking Gambler sucks. I hate it hate it hate it hate it. I feel so horrible. Anyhow, we had a good ride! By this point he was covered in sweat from trotting so much and I was really fed up, so we just did walking; approximately a million figure eights and ten meter circles. We also did Training Test 1 at a walk, because I was bored. I'm surprised I remember it, because I haven't ridden it in almost two years. :D

When I was taking Gambler up to the barn, poor Lyric had a meltdown on the cross ties and as a result, Gambler freaked out (we were right behind her and when she broke free and bolted, so did he) and kicked me in the leg. I'm icing it now, and really hoping it doesn't hurt too much for me to ride tomorrow. I'm such an equestrian.

On a side note, I get to go observe Sally's new horses PPE on Friday! I'm so excited!

...Yeah, I'm a dork.

Monday, July 8, 2013

I'm Back!

Hopefully!

I really want to make blogging a priority this summer. Mainly because I'm just obsessed with my horse (please, who isn't) and, well, talking about myself and my life on the internet is oddly endearing. I've decided this blog is going to be 100% horse related from hereon out. My goal is to blog about every ride I have. Even though I have no followers/readers, whatever! This is for me, to look back on in 10 years, and laugh about.

So yay.