New Old Trailer and Trying Out the New Bit

Over the weekend we had some pretty decent weather so I decided it was a good day to really clean my trailer. This includes pulling out the mats and hosing and scrubbing. When I got the mats out I noticed that although the boards are still nice and solid, a good portion of the protective paint was gone. So that required a new coat of sealing paint. This took my one day job into 2 days.  But the end result was worth it.

Newly painted floor

One of my mats went in upside down
suckers are heavy and I ended up having
to roll it in because lifting was not an option. 

sparkling clean

 While I was slaving away Tc was in the house on the computer and he found this.

The price was very low for what it is, but we went to look at it on Sunday and ended up bringing it home, for even less than the asking price.  But there is a reason it was so cheap.

Living area gutted and smells like mildew.
seller said the hot water heater leaked all through the front.
Personally I prefer to have the storage rather than the living quarters
so I will put the insulation back in and then some sort of paneling.

Rear doors need to either be replaced or recovered.
I'm hoping for replaced. 

It needs new mats and all those rivets for the plastic  lining
are rusted and have a potential to rub sores.
Especially on my fat horses.  I'd like to cover them
with some padding. 

Someone did some low budget repairs.
Those bolts heads are right where they would rub.
Not putting my ponies in there with that kind of stuff.
TC says I am being ridiculous, I told him to let me put a bolt
under his butt for our next road trip and see how long he lasts.

The good news is that I have new mats already. I bought them for Danny's stall but ended up taking them out. They are not being used and I have just enough to do the whole floor.  The floor is aluminum and in good shape. The suspension is good and structurally the trailer is sound. It needs a good cleaning, some cosmetic and safety repairs and it will be good to go.  Everything that needs done TC or I can do ourselves, so it was a good find for us.

Now I have to sell the little trailer, but not doing that until I am comfortable using the new one. One thing I do not know is about contagious diseases.  I feel like I want to power wash it out, and then spray it with a coat of bleach or some other disinfectant, just to be safe. If it was a used dog crate, I wouldn't let my dogs go near it until I did, so that is where my reasoning is coming from.

I also purchased the Mylar comfort snaffle (without the roller) at one of the tack stores in town. I paid more than I would have on line, but by time I had paid shipping it would have been about the same.   I tried it out Sunday on a short jaunt down the road. But Trax was more interested in trying to find a way to turn around and go home for dinner, than actually moving out in a straight line, so I didn't have a good assessment on if it was a good bit for him.  When we turned to head home he sure lined out, and wanted to take off, so our course resembled a slinky...round and round and round again, on a loose rein till he would walk nicely.

Yesterday morning Mark came to trim Danny and Trax. While he was here he looked at Sassy.  He says she  does not appear to be very comfortable to him either, and one thing he said  is that it sort of looks to him that on the bottom of the clog, the way they are shaped (either from filing or wearing) is that her landing point- weight bearing area is only in the middle of her hoof, not the entire hoof. But if that is the issue, is unclear to any of us. He told me that if he was treating her he would put just regular shoes on her with the pads under her heels for comfort.  But he said more importantly, before he did anything else to her he would want to have a new x-ray on that coffin bone to see if it is still an issue.

I still have not made a decision on what route I am going to go with her. The bank account that foots the bill for vets and farriers is empty, so until I get that built back up, there is not much I can do for her. (pretty much everything I own is for sale right now)  I'll be honest, I keep going back and forth from putting her down, and thinking "If I can just get her healed".  But if I can't get her healed, either due to money or what ever, then the right thing to do is to put her down.  Lets just go with "this sucks".

Moving on to Trax....I did ride him yesterday, and once again really focused on downward transitions, as much from the ground as when I got on him. He is coming along. The other main focus was me.  Mark told me last week that I have to make it mean something when I take his face. He is so chargy most of the time, I react by shortening up my reins (without realizing it) and so when I make contact with his mouth it means nothing to him. So my goal last night was always be aware of what my hands were doing. As long as he was rating me, he had a ton of rein and no contact, but if he tried to run off, or if I asked for a downward transition then there was some contact until he changed what he was doing with his feet, then I gave it back to him again.

It really took a while for him to get it. He would generally pick right back up again the minute I gave his face back. So I would bring him back down and we would try again. I started throwing in the command of what gait I wanted. He seems to really listen to my voice a lot. I realize that the goal is to have him listening to my body, but right now if the voice commands help him make the connection, I'm okay with that.

We also worked on stopping. Stopping is not his strong suit. (At All!)  But I found that voice commands really help here too. If I give him some warning "ready aaaaand...Whoa"  When I say the whoa, is when I ask with my seat, but the warning seems to help him prepare and it really seemed to work for him.  In some ways I feel like using that is somehow cheating or even shoddy riding.  On the other hand, I think that with a horse like him who is working through so many issues, anything I can do to help him understand can't be all bad.   One thing I know is that giving him that warning made the difference between him trying, and not trying at all. His biggest problem is that he is still traveling on the forehand so his stops are not pretty at all, but at this point I just want him to stop moving when I ask.

Lets face it, I'm not a professional anything, I'm just an old woman trying to figure out how to help my horse.  I get in as many lessons as I can, but I didn't really have one last week, and I won't get one this week, because Marks schedule is crazy right now.  Hopefully I will get 2 more lessons before the show.  He had planned on being there at the show with his reining mare, but he isn't sure if he will get too, which means I am on my own.

Well I am big girl, I started this journey on my own, and I will finish it on my own as well. I just have to remember that it is all for fun.

I do think the bit was a good choice.  We had a little less head shaking, and a little less rooting.

When we were done riding I unsaddled Trax and then took him back to the arena and turned him loose. I was not sure how he would react to it this time.  The last time I tried this was at the old arena.  A place he had only visited. This arena we are using now is at the place where I bought him. It was his home once and there were other horses standing at the fence watching him.  He went and rolled, stood up and looked around and then walked back to me and put his head down for the halter.

Yeah, he got treats for that.

Afterwards I let him graze for a bit, but then he wasn't ready to stop grazing.  I said, "Get in the trailer."  He said, "No there is still grass here. "  I worked his feet a little and he decided I was the boss again.

I will give him the day off today and ride Killian tonight.