Not Much To Tell

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. Not only have I not been posting, but I have done even less commenting.  I do still go through and read every one's blogs when I get a chance but, my comments are usually pretty short unless I feel that I have something really useful to say.

I don't really have much to talk about here. All the ponies are over their reactions, and actually ready to ride again, but right now...this week anyways, there just isn't any time.   There just seems to be so much to do. I have a very special visitor coming in 2 days and I have much to do to prepare for that.

I have not seen my real dad since my oldest son was under 10.  Jesse just turned 30, so that means it has been over 20 years.  That is a long long time to go without seeing one of your parents.  It is my fault we didn't see each other, not his.  I was not in a place where I was willing to let anyone in my family see me for half of that time. The other half, I was just too far away.  Of course we have talked and we email, facebook, and stuff like that.  But now he is coming, I get to see him for one day, and then he is leaving for CO. He is bringing his wife who I have never met.   Suffice to say, that I am more than a little nervous.  I want everything to be perfect.  I want the house to be spotless, the dogs to smell good (she is not a dog person at all), the horse pens to be spotless, and the horses to look like show horses.  I want my kid to control his potty mouth, and TC....well, I'm not worried about him.

I'll never get it all done.  I have to keep telling myself that life will go on. I have nothing to be embarrassed about. My house is nice, it isn't filthy (most of the time) and my kids are awesome.  The dogs can stay outside.  (My dad actually loves labs- so he will like them)

I am making a Mexican Food Dinner of Shredded beef (build your own burritos) Spinach Enchiladas, rice, beans, and what ever else I can come up with.  My kids are all coming over after work on Friday.  I am taking Friday off, and will probably take my Dad and his wife Karen, to one of the museums, or maybe the Olive farm...or something.   It'll be fun, once I relax and quit worrying about everything being perfect.


In other news, Mason has gone crazy.  He is like the gigantic man who can't stop eating.  We tried to switch dog foods because the Purina Pro Plan is just getting so expensive and the bags are getting smaller and smaller.  I used to feed Pedigree, with no issues, so I thought we could go back to that.  I was wrong.  Mason has gone on an eating rampage. He is still getting the same amount but thinks he is starving all the time.  He has always been one you had to watch when it comes to leaving the lid unlatched to the dog food. Or if you leave a paper plate on the end table that had food on it, he will eat the food and then eat the paper, but he has never ever gotten into the trash.   In the last month he has eaten a complete bag of beggin strips.  Ripped open an unopened bag of dog food and ate himself sick, gotten into all the trash cans 4 times. (there is a lid on our trash can too)  We switched off the pedigree, to one of the higher rated dog foods on the market called Authority, over a week ago, maybe even 2 weeks now, and he is still out of control. We have to watch him constantly and we can no longer leave him in the house if we are gone.  That sucks during the hottest part of the day.

I have spoken with a specialist in the past about his eating disorder.  It was suggested that there is a slight possibility that he has a small tumor in his brain which is blocking his ability to feel full.  It would also explain why he cannot hear, or swim.  (equilibrium issues)  I find myself wondering if perhaps it has gotten worse. Although that would be an odd coincidence that it happened just at the same time we tried to switch dog foods.

More than likely, he was feeling hungry all the time on the cheap food, and got into the trash. Now he knows its there, and a new habit has developed.  This has been reinforced by the fact that two people who keep coming home to the mess (I'm always at work) don't quite grasp how to stop a dog from doing things.  TC's plan is to just throw him out, and make him eat outside.  He thinks that Mason understands that he is being sent outside because he got in the trash.   Simon's way of dealing with it is to yell alot and then leave the mess for me to clean up because it is my dog.

I can probably break him of this but it helps to catch him in the act or for me at least to be the one to walk in after the deed is done.  I will have to get really mean about it too.  I don't like it, but I'm afraid he is going to eat himself to death.  He has never bloated from one of these binges yet, but the older he gets, the more likely it is.    If I can't break him of it, he is going to find himself living in a crate a lot when no one is home.  Not my favorite option either, but I know it doesn't hurt him and at least he would be inside where it is cool.

Moving on....

I've been doing a lot of saddle swapping lately.  Not always in my best interest, but the goal is to find a saddle that fits all my horses.  Well I did find one, but it is way out of my price range. However I did manage to trade off the Circle Y Flex Tree for a Circle Y Show saddle very similar to the one I use all the time.  I am not sure if it is going to be wide enough, but we will give it a shot.  It is newer and quite a bit lighter.  However it was not in the best shape, so I had to take it home and do some work to it. Since I was doing that one, I ended up doing 3 out of 4 of my saddles and am really impressed with how they are turning out.   I actually am going to do a blog post very soon on the method I have come up with. Once I have my total finished project and have refined the method.   I will do step by step by step pics of the last saddle.  It needs the most work I think anyways.

Wait let me retract that statement.  The saddle that needed the most work was Trax's saddle. Holy Moly that thing was a mess.  Filthy dirty, squeeky, and dry dry dry.  It occurred to me that the last time I took a week and did all the saddles really well, that one never got done.  That means I have not done it since I bought it.

Shameful....Just shameful.

However, wait till you see it when it is done. Oh Boy is it going to be pretty again.

The saddle I really want is at a saddle shop in Camp Verde AZ.  It is also a Circle Y (of course- must by all the circle y's)  I tried to work a trade, but you know how that goes.  Oddly enough, the guy at the store wasn't much interested in the saddle I had just bought, but he was really interested in my old one.  I had to laugh because I know that it is held together in spots with drywall screws, and not even all that well.   However, at this point it is still my favorite, and I am not willing to let it go until I find one that I like better. That means, find one, take it home, ride in for a month, decide it is better, and THEN I'd be willing to let mine go.    He also had another one there that was older, but in gorgeous condition, and more of what I am really looking for.  It is also more in my price range. At the very least. I know I will be able to sell the one I just bought at a profit, and go buy the cheaper one if it comes down too it.

I call this entire endeavor "The great saddle trade escapade"!

I did make an interesting discovery though.  Last fall I bought an old Colorado Saddlery saddle at a yard sale.  It has (had) EZ-up stirrups on it, that will actually drop down with the flick of a button for easier mounting out on a trail.   I thought it was just an old crappy saddle, not worth much of anything at all.   I have never even put it on a horse. It was so cheap I couldn't pass it up.

It was one of the saddles I cleaned and conditioned on Sunday.  Oh My Garsh!  It is actually an extremely well made saddle, and in much better shape than I ever noticed.   I have tried to contact the company for identification off of the serial numbers but have not gotten an answer yet.   It is very heavy, but some people don't mind that.  I took off the EZ-ups and will put regular stirrups on it. Then I will try it on the horses to see if it fits anyone.  If it does, then I will keep it. If it doesn't then it will go up for sale.  I think it will fetch a nice price now that it looks like the beauty that it really is.  Granted it is older so it will never be a top dollar saddle, but I believe I can make a small profit off of it.

I had such a good time working on those saddles.  It was so relaxing and what a neat thing to see them come back to life again.  I wouldn't mind doing that for a living, although I doubt one could make a whole lot off of it.

Speaking of making money....I got a call on the boarding business today. These folks have 4 horses, and do barrels, and western pleasure.  They are coming tomorrow morning to check the place out. That would actually almost put me at max capacity with just one client.  THAT would be awesome!   So keeping my fingers crossed for this to work out. Especially since they don't want to move in till August, which give me time to finish getting my big pens divided properly.  (as opposed to temp fences)

For not having much to say, that was sure a long post!

Vaccine Update

This morning I went out to hand out breakfast and was greeted by 4 whinnys

(Why are you so late????)

(It was only 8am)

4 sets of bright eyes

4 unswollen necks and jaws

16 hooves racing and pacing around their pens eager for breakfast

4 noses dove into their food (or pasture) like they had not been fed in weeks

It was nice to see everyone feeling better today.

Perhaps I didn't mess up as badly as I thought I had.   Live and learn I guess

Live and learn

What I Learned About Giving Equine Vaccines

I vaccinated all my horses on Monday.  Everyone took it very well, being much more concerned about the plastic bag they came in than the actual needle itself.  I cleaned each area twice with an alcohol swap. Scrubbing once and then the second was used in a singular swiping motion to remove any bacteria.

This is the first time I have vaccinated my own horses. I have done my own dogs for years, and I have assisted while my horses were being done. I understand about intramuscular, and I know that the injection sight must be clean for these sorts of injections.  I have injected antibiotics many times, so I was not uncomfortable with what I was doing.

In the past, with a vet doing the  job,  I have had different reactions for the same vaccines on the same horses.  One year they all reacted poorly to the shots.   The next year I used a different vet and none of them reacted at all. Or if they did it was so minor I didn't catch it.

This year they reacted again.  The mares more so than the geldings.  The first year it was Killian that reacted the worst. This year I think it is Sassy.  Trax's was pretty mild.

I did some research.....and some thinking.

This is one of the things I found:

A common mistake is to give an IM vaccine too high 
in the neck, causing the vaccine to enter the nuchal ligament rather than the muscle. Also 
if given too close to the skin, there can be an inflammatory reaction since skin and 
subcutaneous (beneath the skin) tissues of horses are very sensitive to most vaccines.
(source)

While I was careful to make sure I was in the muscle, it is possible that I did not go deep enough. The mares both have some swelling at the injection sight.  The geldings do too but it is very minor.  Also I think I was up too high.  I'm not sure why I didn't inject where I would normally give an antibiotic shot.  Wait...yes I am.  I will tell you why in a minute.

I also suspect that I may have miscalculated my dosage. I don't know this for a fact. I have not even read anything that supports my theory, but it is just a feeling I have.   I also think that since the reactions they have right now are the exact same reactions they had for vet #1, I suspect that he also made the same mistakes as me. Especially since I did everything exactly as I remember him doing, including vaccinating up higher on the neck.

On day 1 they just had some soreness and swelling in the neck.  Day 2, three out of four have swelling around the jaw.  If they have been standing around or sleeping for a while it takes them a minute to work the soreness out enough to graze. Sassy's appetite is lower than usual, but she is still eating the stuff she loves, and everyone else is eating just fine.  This is a repeat of 2 years ago.

Interestingly enough, I put the spotted ponies out to pasture and of Trax went right to work. Melody had to "limber up" but eventually was grazing just fine.  I decided that the Red horses needed out too, so I shut the front gates and just kicked them out to roam.  Funny how they suddenly felt much better and had plenty of energy to run to the fence and start a fight, go to the neighbors fence and try to steal alfalfa through the chain link fence, scratch their big fat butts on our little tiny trees, check every single gate for an escape route, go start another fight, go stare at Steve Wonder the Alpaca,  and stopping to snack between each new adventure.  When I put everyone away with a fresh flake of hay, they all dove right in, so that was a promising sign as well.

I fully believe that giving them the chance to graze or move about not only helps them work the soreness out, but it keeps them from dwelling on how they feel.  Tomorrow I will put the reds in the pasture and the spots out to play.   I did read something somewhere that said it is best to exercise right after vaccinating to help keep them from getting sore. I don't know if that is true. I did the exact opposite thinking it would be best to give them time to rest.

I realize that by writing this post and sharing on line I open myself up to a whole lot of criticism, and that is fine.  You can't say anything to me that I have not said to myself.  I feel bad that they are sore, but I would have felt a whole lot worse if mosquito season hit (next month) and they ended up getting very sick because I had not vaccinated at all.  Yes I admit that I did my own to save some money.  I know a gazillion people, all who take excellent care of their horses,  who do the same thing.  My equine fund has taken a couple of major hits that I am still recovering from.  I hate having to cut corners, but sometimes you do what you have to do.   I know that my horses are going to be okay, although I still feel sick that they don't feel good right now.   I don't know if I will try this again next year, I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

I suppose I could have just kept all this information to myself.  I even thought about doing just that.  However, I didn't, for a reason. I wanted to share what I learned so that others my benefit from my less than stellar experience.

Super Success

It has been pretty gosh darn hot for days now, although at least Saturday there was something that resembled a breeze. That way when sweat is pouring off of you, it feels nice and cool out.  Trust me, it isn't.

I had much work to do;  pens to drag, fence to repair, piles to load into the dump trailer, etc etc etc.  I managed to get some done, take a break, get more done, take another break. It kept me from getting too over heated, yet kept me moving all day.

About the time the sun started to go down I grabbed a paint horse and my crappy a$$ trimming tools.   At this point I am going to insert reason #865 of  "Why I love this horse".

He will stand there so patiently while I fumble around under neath him trying to play "Hoof Trimmer".  I mean he literally will not move, will not pull away, will lean on me, he just stands there so nice.   At one point I needed to grab something out of the shed, and his foot was in the cradle.  I said, "Stay there Bud, I'll be right back."  And literally it was only a few seconds, ten tops, but he stayed put.  He turned his head to see what I was doing, but his foot stayed solid.  This was a front foot.

Looking back I think it probably wasn't a smart thing to do. If he had pulled it away, he might could have hurt himself, but still it was pretty cool.

Anyway, I got him done just as it got too dark to see, I was pretty happy with my work.  It may not be perfect but I cut away some hunks of bar, made sure I was even on my heels, brought his high heal down a little and his low heel back some.   Using Lazlo's measuring system I believe the length was good.   It then took me 5 minutes to get myself back into an upright position.

Since I was already hot and sweaty, the sun was down and I had nothing else left to do that day, I ran in and threw some pants on, and came out to ride.  My arena is gorgeous at night.  Not bragging...just saying.

I get woman wood just looking at it. 

I really didn't ask for a ton of stuff from him.  Just worked on fine tuning the stuff that we do.  The thing I find interesting about night riding is that sometimes our shadow is better than a mirror.  I can see which feet are moving and which feet are staying put.  I can see for sure when the spin is falling apart which helps me learn the feel, and then I can correct it as soon as I feel it.   Trax is good about night riding, usually. As long as I give him time to walk the fence line and see what is lurking in the shadows, then he is good.  I won't bore you with all the details, as there was nothing super spectacular, just more of the same and seemingly getting a little better.

Then I got Melody. The weekend before my friend Jamie and her room mate had been down from OR.  Jamie, rode Melody bareback, and said that it seems like Melody was limping some.  When I watch I do see that the right hind leg does not extend as far forward as the left.  I can hear that the rhythm is just a tad off too. 

When I rode her, and asked her to lope, she really didn't feel like she wanted.  I could not tell if she was sore or just being a butt.  We did not ride long, just enough to get warmed up, and eventually I did get her lope normally, but it took a little bit.  I did however rider her through (not across) the poles on the ground, and she did it with no hesitation what so ever.  

Afterwards I gave her a cool bath and some fly spray, resolving to reassess her gait in the morning.  

The next morning I went out and watched her race around her paddock like a mad woman.  So while I think there is a little something in her hip, I don't think it is life threatening, just something I need to address. My goal is to identify exactly where it problem is located and then hopefully treat with chiro, and better joint supplements.  

Last night Miss Shae came out to ride again. I chose to ride Killian, the big butthead, and try him out in a hackamore.  It took all of about 2 minutes and I went and got Trax's headstall and bit. Right now Melody is using Killian's bit so I am working on finding him one of his own.  I do have a solid curb buried somewhere which I think would work fine for Killian.  

When Shae came this time she brought her mom. It was interesting to watch the interaction between the two of them. While there were times when I wanted to say, "Hey, its okay, just let her enjoy the ride and get to know the horse."  It was not my place to do so, and often times the conversation reminded me of myself and Simon, so I shall not judge.  

I rode Killian for a while. We loped, and trotted, and it was funny to hear Shea say as I loped past her, "Oh Wow! He has a gorgeous stride!"   It feels so awkward to me because I am so used to riding Trax.  Perhaps riding Killian is how it is supposed to feel.  I will say that now that he is starting to accept the proper lead departures, it is much better and I am getting better control over him at a lope. Not that he was ever a bolt away like Trax. But he always has tended to want to just lope towards home.  Home being the gate in this case.   Sometimes it makes me wonder what he could do if I really really worked with him.  Of course he is 20, so there would be limitations, but it isn't like he is broken down in any case.  

After a while though I wanted to ride my own horse, so I asked Simon to get me Trax.  In the mean time I sat and watched Shea on Melody.   She had the same trouble I did at first, getting the lope out of her. But after a while it was coming along smoothly.  I also noticed that after she had been riding for a quite some time, that the "offness" that I had heard in her gate was no longer there. Or not near as prominent anyways. 

 So what does this tell me?

My show horse is getting stove up from lack of riding.  

Insert frowny face here. 

I kind of set Trax up for failure this time around. I did not warm him up as well as usual, nor did I do our usual lap around the perimeter.  I also did not realize that the farm animals adjoining the arena had changed. This time there was a calf and a blind alpaca.  Just as we went trotting past the calf, who is quite friendly, came running up to the fence. Trax bolted sideways, and across the arena.  No worries, I just rode it out and we went back.  He was really bothered at first. I think he could smell the alpaca but couldn't see it. He could see the calf but it "smelled funny".  Eventually it was no big deal. 

(Totally off topic here, but I was watching the alpaca during the day and when he can tell someone is close he weaves his head back and forth like Stevie Wonder.  And if he can hear commotion, like dogs barking, he runs in little circles with his head straight up in the air. It is funny to watch how he copes with his disability)

Anyway, I was actually kind of surprised at how well he handled not having his usual warm up.  I was able to lope him nicely without too many verbal commands to take it down a notch, and as usual we just felt like one.  

Meanwhile Shea and Melody were practicing lead changes.  Now, for all her "critical mom/trainer" type comments when it came to lead changes, Shea's mom was actually quite helpful. She was able to break down the problems we both seem to have with Melly, and told us exactly what to do to fix it.  

Basically she said, "Quit telling her back at the corner that you are thinking about the lead change. You are giving her warning and she is anticipating, and then you never really commit to the change.  Instead wait till you are ready, commit to the change, give the solid cue, use your leg to lift ever so slightly on her side and she will do the rest." 

 When Shae did that the lead change was smooth and fluid.  I listened carefully and watched every subtle move so that when I ride her next and I can try to do the same thing.  

Then I asked if she was ready to try our pattern again.  I went first.  Trax did fantastic on the circles, fair on the lead change, gave me one fantastic stop, and fell apart on the spins.  We were not warmed up, I was not unhappy at all. 

Then it was Shae's turn.  She did beautiful circles, nice and round, perfect speed change, a gorgeous lead change, and then came the stop.  Her timing was perfect, her seat and cue were perfect and Melody slid that big old butt right up underneath herself like the well trained horse that she is. 

It-was-gorgeous!

Shea yelled out, "OMG did you see that!"  

Then she did her first spin. The first one was fabulous.  I reminded her to giver Melly time to settle herself before asking and after they were done.  Then she loped down to our end and did the same only this time Melly fell apart.  It took several tries to get it right and it never was pretty.   Not sure what the problem was.  Regardless, for her second time ever on the horse, they did so good together.....again.  

I can close my eyes and see those two in the show ring. I can see them winning stuff. I can feel the connection between them.  I feel sort of like an outsider peering in through the window wishing that I could ride her like that.    It only hurts a little, and that hurt is over whelmed by the joy of watching them together.  It is pretty cool.  

After that we walked the horses around to cool them off. We did side passing and such, and just talked a little about her ride.  She was ecstatic, going on and on about the stop and the first spin, and how nice she felt in her circles.....you know....like a teen aged girl.  

As we walked past the poles on the ground I asked her to ride Melody through them.  She did several times and Melly did just fine. 

I hopped down and dragged one pole out towards the center, and said, "Ride her over that. Don't look down, look at the end of the arena, focus your energy there, not here, and ride her through."  

I took Trax over first and she was behind me. Melody stopped.  

She skitted this way and that way, and said, "No I don't wanna"

Shea said, "But I want you to."

Melody said, "I can't, I don't like it."

Shea said, "Yes you can, you can do it, you are a big girl.  You can jump it if it makes you feel better, but you can go over."

Melody said, "I won't."

Shea said, "You will."

 And that is when Melody said, "Okay I trust you" and she went over!!!!

Not just once but 3 times!  

That was where we called it a night.  There is video of her going over, and it is actually hilarious, but since I don't own the video, and it isn't a youtube video, I can't post it here.  A few of you have seen it on Facebook.  I will see if she will upload it to youtube for me.  If she does then I will post it.  I'm sure she will be happy to do so. 

She really wants to buy Melody.  I don't know that I want to sell her, but it is hard to ignore how nice they are together.  For now she will just have to be happy with being able to ride her.  I have decided I will not let her go for a while. I have seen what Melody can do on a cow, I have not had time to try that on her yet.  I won't let her go until I can.  Plus I really like Melody, she cracks me up on a daily basis. So for now she stays.  

For now.  

Poor kitty

Oscar De La Kitty is nocturnal, as most cats are. He is always there to greet me when I get home at 1am. In fact one night I was in the car listening to the radio. He decided I was not exiting the vehicle fast enough and jumped on the hood and peered in the window to see what the hold up was. 

He comes in long enough to snatch a quick bite and then yowls to go back outside.  I know better than to go to bed before he goes out. I have tried and he always wakes me up. 

Last night was no different but this morning he did not come in with the dogs which is unusual. 

About an hour later I saw him out front and noticed right away that something was wrong. 

He had been bit or stung by something.  Looks like it could be right on his eye lid. But also there is something hard and dried on his forehead. He was happy to be held and even purred as I tried to wash his head. 

I seemed to recall that in situations like this you can give Benadryl.  I researched on line and confirmed the memory, So I went and got a bottle of the children's liquid and administered a very small pint with one of my curved tip syringes. (Those things are the handiest investment I have ever made)   

He did not enjoy taking the medicine and actually started drooling and foaming at the mouth. 

Yes at that point I freaked out. 

Of course he also scratched the heck out of me and left town. I finally caught up to him wiped his mouth off and just held him for a bit. 

The drooling stopped and he started purring again- crisis over I let him go and he went for a nap in my bed room. 

Simon is home with him and keeping me updated. If he is not improved by morning we will take him to the vet. 

Poor poor kitty. 

Shae is coming out to ride again tomorrow and our goal is to get all the horses ridden once the sun goes down. 

I have informed TC that the very next project needs to me my covered tack area put back together...with lights.  I tried to ride last weekend at night but it was awfully hard to tack up in the dark. 

I Broke My Horse

Yesterday I took Killian for a little jaunt around the arena, he did really well once I established that we were not going to go to the fence and make goo goo eyes at the Princess.   Then I rode him out, grabbed little miss Sassafras, put her boots on and we the three of us headed down the road.  

She is such a funny horse to pony.  If we are in the arena she drags behind and you are constantly having to tell her to pick it up a bit.  If you are heading out, she is leading the way, and if you see cows....hold on tight because she is making beeline for them.  I suspect she wants to bite them on the butt.   Then when you head towards home she starts pulling back because she is not ready to go home.  She is quite the explorer.  I love that about her.

She seems to be over her nervousness of vehicles passing by. Did not even give them a second glance this time.  However did not have any rude honkers this time, or semis.   Our road is dirt so we trotted down the road and I watched for any limping.  There was none!!!!!!

I was so so very excited!  We trotted down the road and my imaginations was filled with visions of riding my little cutting horse, penning a cow, people cheering at how awesome she was.....blah blah blah!

When we hit pavement we walked but tried to keep the pace steady.  It was pretty darn hot out so I settled for just going around the block. When we had the room we trotted on the dirt on the sides of the road, if not then we walked.

3/4 of the way home we were skirting a big dirt lot, just walking.  Killian had picked up the pace a little, because he knew we were almost home. Sassy of course was slowing down. I felt her stumble behind me and then she really started dragging on the lead rope.

I turned around to tell her to come on, and almost threw up. There she was hobbling on 3 legs.  I jumped off and checked her boots to see if she had gotten a rock in them when she stumbled. There was nothing.

I got her back to the dirt road, and tried moving her around to see what the problem was.  It was her left front, and she was not willing to put much weight on it at all. This is not an internal hoof issue I don't think.  I took her down a little past the house hoping that maybe I could move her out of it.  But it didn't work.  So we hobbled home.

I checked for heat or swelling, could find nothing. She seemed to do a little better with out the boots, which doesn't make any sense either.   I was going to hose her left leg down, but at that moment the guys had broken a water line, and all my water was shut off so I used some water out of her tub and put some on her just in case. Then I got Killian untacked and dumped another bucket over him because he was super hot and sweaty.  (He actually burned some calories!)

I came in and got some ice to ice her leg with, but once I got out there found I had no clue where I should ice simply because there was no heat or swelling. So I just sort of moved it up and down her leg.  I also gave her a dose of Banamine. She was standing there with her left leg propped forward, and while she would put weight on it to move herself around, it never lasted long.

TC came up with a pretty good idea. He suggested to use our laser thermometer to check different parts of her body to see if I could pinpoint any hot spots.   Her feet were 102, her legs were both at about 99-100, her knee was the same.  Moving up to her shoulder she varied from 98-104.  It was much too fluctuant to count anything as accurate.   So much for great ideas.  This is one of those times when thermal imaging probably would have been handy.

TC told me this morning that last night she seemed to be doing much better.  I am headed out now to see for myself.  I just cannot figure out what is going on with this horse, this was not her normal foot sore issues. This was an injury but all we were doing was walking, and why is there no heat?  If it is going to be like this for the rest of her life, I don't really have big hopes for her future.

I guess if I am going to break one of my horses, its best that it is the one that was already broken.  But it sure did take all those happy visions I was having just 15 minutes earlier and shatter them into a million little pieces.

Teenagers! (I love them)

So, as I posted yesterday, my grandson's girlfriend came out to ride.  Shea has a few horses of her own, does barrel racing and Western Pleasure as well.  She has not been doing much riding of her own horses for a couple of different reasons.  Her WP horse came up lame (Navicular) and they have been rehabing him for 6 months.   She had a bad bad wreck on her barrel horse last August, and her horse has not been "right" ever since, so they are working through that as well.  (BEC I wish you were still in town because she could sure use some of your insight on that subject)

Since she has been horseless for the most part, is out of school, and has a lot more free time on her hands I went ahead and invited her to come and ride Melody.  I knew that I was taking a small risk, having never seen her ride, but I have seen pictures of her riding, and so I knew that she had at least some experience.  

As it turned out I had nothing to worry about.  As I watched her groom Melly and get her saddled it was clear that I was watching a girl who was comfortable and confident around horses.  If she had a question, she asked, but they were good questions (not that any question is bad) and really more about my preference than about not knowing.  There was never the deer in the headlights look that I got from the last young lady who came out to ride. 

I saddled Trax and we headed to the arena together. Of course I had to do my lunge routine, but I knew  Melody does not require such things, so I told her to mount up and just ride at a walk around the arena to let Melody get re-acclimated to the goats and such. 

Here she is getting to know her mount.
Don't they look fabulous together?

I am quite sure the Melody loves this girl too, as she only weighs like 90 lbs soaking wet.  Not to mention the fact that she has a great seat, pretty soft hands, and Melly likes anyone who recognizes her princess status! 

After that it was mostly just riding around, experimenting with cues, and getting a feel for "her" horse.  I loved that I didn't have to watch her constantly or supervise what she was doing.  She actually rides better than I do I think, and I could tell she was having a great time. 

Melly was so good for her, never giving her a lick of trouble, and being very patient while Shea figured out her cues. Shea understands collection and moving off the leg very well, so that was a plus as well. 

I believe I was showing her how to cue the spin

Remember the last time I rode Melody I said that she had crow hopped on me? Well I know now that it was not a crow hop at all.  After both horses were sufficiently warmed up I asked Shea if she wanted to do a reining pattern. I have one memorized and it is an easy one so I walked her through it, and then as she rode the pattern I called out each step.  The first time she got a little confused, but then Trax and I went so she could get a good visual.  Then she went again. This time she had it down and while I still called out to her, she really didn't need me too. I also focused on things like "Bigger circle is fast, go ahead and let her go...now slow her down...keep her going...get ready for your stop...etc etc etc.  At one point during her second set of big circles I saw Melly give a little .... not a hop....but more like she had a hitch in her giddyup.  I'm not sure how to explain, but Shea felt it too.  It looked almost like her hip got stuck or something but that isn't really accurate either.   However now that I have seen it I know it wasn't any kind of "I'm being bad" thing. It was more of a, "Ouch that kind of hurt for a second" move.  So very soon she will get her chiro work.

Riding while talking
Oh to be that skinny again! 

Another really cool thing that happened during this ride was Trax....he did not 1, but 2 flying lead changes practically on his own.   The first one came out of no where and I was not expecting it. The second one was in our first round at the pattern. The second time we did the pattern though I totally threw him off on the lead change and it took us half our circle to get it.  But dang I was excited!

I have to admit that I showed off just a little, and did a few trail obstacles on him for her.  It was pretty cool to see her jaw drop as he slid like butter across the L  It was quite pretty even if I do say so myself.

The last thing we did before we called it a night was my usual side pass left, side pass right.  I did Trax, she watched me, and then she mimicked and why yes, Princess Melly is smooth like butter too.  Now if I can just get her to do it over a pole!

Shea is excited to come back and ride her again, and I am excited to let her.  We had a great time, our horses did really well, and I would even be willing to let her ride Melly in a show if she wanted.   But for now it was just nice to have someone who loves to ride, who knows how to ride, to ride with.

In other news, I am looking into putting together a Mike Major horsemanship clinic.  It started as a simple comment of facebook, "When are you coming to AZ" and has turned into me looking for a venue, and rounding up participants.  I've never done this sort of thing before and it may turn out that I don't have what it takes to pull it together, but I'm sure going to give it my best shot.   There is a lot that goes into it, as many of you already know. And while it isn't near as much work as putting on a show, I'm so afraid I will neglect something important.

Tomorrow I hope to get Big Red under the saddle. He is being a big fat turd lately, and I really think he needs some time in the desert.....alot!