Good Day / Bad Day / Good Day

Good Day - Saturday morning we scored the 9 and 10 am lesson times so headed to Inola early.  The girls rode the 9 am slot and both Alaina and Ivy had good lessons on their mounts.  Sunny had some nice slow canters and Alaina worked on bringing him onto the bit without the head toss (using timing at the point in the canter when his front end was lowest) to give a half halt.  Ivy worked to use more leg and less hand to bring Pico onto the bit.  Pico didn't spook in the indoor arena for a change.... 

Kathy B on Call, Marsha on Dakota, and me on Splash started the 10 o'clock lesson.  We all did stretching exercises to warm up and then worked on trot and walk transitions.  Splash was sound both ways with only a little unevenness in the corner when going clockwise for a couple of seconds.  Yippeee!  Splash was feeling so good, he was obnoxious.  Lounging would help but Dr. Ennis says NO Lounging.  We didn't push and quit after just 20 minutes.  So, I switched my saddle and bridle to Pico and finished the lesson on him.  With only one little spook, we had a great 1/2 lesson doing circles and leg yields.  Canter work was nice too.  Kathy and Call were looking really good now that Call is sound again and Marsha and Dakota had some nice work with Dakota learning to give to the bit.  Are we ready to show at Rocking C next weekend? Kathy and Marsha, for sure - Splash and me, we will have to see.  After cooling the horses, we headed to Siloam Springs for lunch.. hehe .. we went to Graham's but dilly dallied so long that Larry thought we had been to Arkansas and back.

Later, that same day, I gave Diez a bath with some special horse soap made by my long lost friend Cathy VW - found by Trisha on FB.  She lives in Tallahassee, Florida and raises goats and horses.  It was wonderful stuff and I need to find a way to get more.  Diez looked lovely and her hair coat felt so soft.

Bad Day - Sunday morning I planned to take Pico and Sunny to Rita's place to video Shannean's OSU team audition.  Gave Pico a rinse and went to the stall to grab Sunny.  Crisis!  Sunny had ripped his nostril more than an inch deep.  I called Dr. S and made arrangements to get him stitched up by Dr. Round.  Meanwhile, I dropped Pico and Diez at Rita's so that the show could go on.  Cindy H, in town for a quick visit, came out to Rita's to visit Prince and got a royal Nip on the arm.  It was a love nip Cindy and he didn't mean it.... really!

Good Day - Shannean rode Jurgen (Friesian) in a dressage test, Pico (Arab cross since he was good) for transitions and jumping small jumps and Winston (Tenn Walker) for some more jumping.  I got back from the vet clinic just in time to watch Alaina ride Winston.  Now, she wants more Arabians, a Friesian, and a TW in her herd.  After I got Sunny back home in a stall with a fan going, Pico back in the pasture, and Diez back in her turnout, I headed back to Rita's to work on the DVD for OSU.  On the disk we put 6 minutes of Jurgen, 4 minutes of Pico and a couple minutes of Winston and about 15 still photos including a couple with Shannean riding Silka with Prince running along side.   Soooo cute.

Even though it has been way to hot to ride in the evening the last few weeks, the yaya's have a pot luck planned for Wed. night.  That will be way fun!

Horse Butt Crunch

Splash update - Several weeks of supplements and anti-inflammatory and Splash was still off on the right hind end.  So, before we head to Oakridge for serious medical investigations, we tried chiropractic adjustment.

Patty recommended Dr. Jim Ennis from Arkansas and I go an appointment Friday afternoon July 9th.  My truck blew the big belt on Friday morning so wonderful Sherry took us over to Prairie Lane to meet the Doctor.  I gave Dr. Ennis the history and details of his injury in early May and Dr. E started to evaluate starting at the poll. 

Flexibility seemed good until the right shoulder and the Doc adjusted.  Then along the spine was fine until the left hip.  The right side was better and Dr. E finished the adjustment with the Horse Butt Crunch. 

HBC - Take 2 coins, press hard on both sides of the tail head and push up toward the loin.  The result is that the horse will rotate the pelvis and stretch the "lower" back.  The prescription is to apply the Horse Butt Crunch daily and when grooming to ride.  Also, no lounging; work on straight lines rather than circles.  Mostly walking with short trot segments. 

So, immediately after the adjustment, we rode a bit and Splash seemed better.  Our arena was to soggy from all the rain - so no ride on Sat.  I rode a little on Sunday afternoon before I headed off to Kansas for the week. 

Stay tuned to see if this treatment helps - I will get another appointment in early August as a follow-up.

In other news...  After the rainy week following the 4th of July, our hay guy got cutting when the weather looked clear for a good 4/5 day stretch.  Steve and Kale got the first truck load Wed evening and planned to pickup a load Thurs morning and the get the bulk of our hay Thursday evening after dinner.  As the grill was ready for cooking, a huge storm blew in and Steve, Kale and Alex scrambled to get the hay in time.  The hay was on both trucks and the trailer as the rain started and the crew covered with tarps and backed a truck into the barn as the sky opened and the deluge began.  So, Friday the tarps came off and the hay dried mostly.  Then, the vortex caused by hay almost dry enough to stack in the barn, another storm blew in and the tarps came out again.   Sat. and Sun. were dry and most of the hay is now in the barn, but about 30 bales are still wet and out in the sun to try to save them. 

The 4-H show on Sat. was the fastest show on record.  The kids were excused from hot show cloths and got to show in T-shirts and jeans.  Classes ran so fast, we were done by 1pm and I got to go to lunch after dropping horses and kids by the house.  We did start early and the judge skipped rail work at every opportunity.  Wish they were all like that.  Ivy won the hunter hack class and beat Alaina in western classes when Sunny dropped gait - Alaina beat Ivy in the English classes since freako-Pico was afraid of the new BIG RED tank at the end of the arena.  They had a good time and really liked the casual show attire and Alaina won reserve high point for 9-11.

With rain Thurs/Friday, the arena was soaked.  Finally got a chance to check on Splash this evening.  So, wiped sweat off to saddle and applied the HBC and worked a bit.  I really couldn't tell how he was since the arena is to short and uneven to really try to trot straight.  So, we will cross fingers for improvement on Sat. at the next party lesson.