The Sweet Life of Axel and Cody!

Long Time No See

2009-06-30T07:59:00.002-05:00

I got the best horsey welcome last night when I went to the barn. Cody, of all horses, knickered at me like I was his long lost BFF. And it wasn't even close to dinner time so who knows why he was so excited to see me but it was nice anyway.

I groomed Axel first while the barn owner was riding one of her horses. Axel has a few good sized welts from I assume bug bites. His chin doesn't look too bad but he still has the flap of skin/hair hanging from it (not as bad as it sounds it's mostly just hair). It's too big to pull off and I couldn't bring myself to cut it. Hopefully it'll just fall off soon. Apparently Axel was itchy all over. Usually you can find a spot or two that really makes him happy to have scratched. Yesterday it was nearly every place I brushed; full on lip curling and neck stretching. Goofy horse. When the barn owner was finished in the arena Axel and I went in and worked on some lunging. He was a little excited and trotted out pretty quickly but none of the previous bucking. He put his head down a bit at the canter but nothing major hopefully just stretching. To his bad side he actually lunged without a fight. He was a little jumpy on that side and kept offering canter strides to get out of trotting. We worked a while on getting the canter on the correct lead on that side. He even did a flying change. We did once more on each side, got both correct leads and stopped there. I'm trying to teach him that being nice and lunging correctly means we're done. Of course I don't know what I'll do when he picks up those leads calmly and correctly on the first try! Of course then I suppose my standards move up to collection and using his hind end properly. We backed out of the barn and that was the end of that.

Cody wasn't terribly happy that Axel had left, I suppose now it's been a week or more since I took one of them away and he got used to it. I didn't have too many plans for Cody, just a bit of grooming so we went to the crossties and got that done. His nose still seems sun burn free. It's a little flakey which he wasn't too happy to have me brush. He was, however, pleased to have my curry his head. I put his fly mask back on when I turned him out but I'm seeing now it's not sunny at all today so he probably would have appreciated not wearing it for a change. Oh well. Pink nose horses have to put up with it if they don't let me put sun screen on them.

So Many Flies

2009-06-29T14:42:00.001-05:00

Ran out to the barn quick before the Tanbark horse show on Friday. I couldn't really ride as I put my back out on Thursday plus I didn't have much time. So all I did was lug some fly spray, swat, a brush, and some apples into the pasture. Axel apparently found something sharp to scratch on and was looking like he got in a barn fight. Couple gouges out of his rear and a big scratch on his chin. I put some swat on both horses' man bits because the flies had been biting so bad they were full of scabs. Axel was mighty appreciative and thought I was there for a scratch so he obliged by lifting his leg up for me. I guess horses can't scratch their own bellies/inner thighs very easily. I decided they needed their fly masks on again. Who knows if Axel will keep his on but I didn't want Cody's nose getting any more sun burn even if there were some clouds in the weekend forecast.

Funny how now that Jeff is in town I can't seem to get out to the barn as easily. I might run out tonight when Jeff gets home from work (I took a sick day). I'm waiting for his UPS shipment so I'm not able to leave til that or he gets here. We have to run up and drop of his parent's pickup so it probably won't be a long barn trip. I should ride or at least lunge, it's cool out but I'm not sure if my back is ready for a ride yet or not. I should play it safe and just lunge, Axel needs the exercise anyway.

They Love Dinner

2009-06-19T20:50:00.002-05:00

It was grand central station at the barn on Friday. Hunter girls were giving their horses a bath and getting ready to go to a show, barn owner was getting ready to go camping, and another boarder was doing some ground work with her horse. I had Cody in to ride a bit in the arena and he had his lazy pants on. We did some lunging (lazy) and then tried some riding (also lazy). After a lot of work we finally got some decent trotting but we could not get a canter to save our lives, just trot trot trot. Not sure what that's about. We did get some backing up under saddle, nothing mind blowing but steps backwards nonetheless. He stood patiently while I chatted with the other boarder and the barn owner.

The barn owner asked if I would feed my horses when I was done since he was leaving to go camping. So when I was done cleaning up and reorganizing my tack I went out to feed. Axel was far off in the pasture and when he saw me with the bucket of grain he came running. And I mean running, all while knickering. It was pretty hilarious. Goofy chubby horse running to dinner.

Getting Warmer

2009-06-18T08:03:00.002-05:00

It's definitely starting to get warm and humid. Both horses came up to me in the pasture to see what kind of fun things I had for them. I guess that means Cody isn't holding a grudge after our long trail ride on Sunday. Axel was pretty lazy when I tried to get some circles out of him in the arena before getting on to ride. Then he was pretty lazy under saddle. I can't quite tell if he was hurting or just being lazy. We did trot around for a while but it was a lot of work to get and keep him going. He's getting so fat I figured he needs to get working, I don't think being overweight is good for ringbone. I didn't really attempt any good cantering and he was trotting pretty okay, not really popping up quite as often as he had been.

But it didn't feel like enough work and the pants I was wearing were not cooperating and it was hot. So I got off and got the lunge line and whip. He had a few super crazy bronc moments but settled in (probably tired himself out) and was trotting really nice and then even picking up the canter with little fuss. This of course was tracking right. Tracking left, not so much, it takes a lot of work just to get him to get going in that direction. Once he did it was nearly the same, good trot, pretty good canter on the correct lead, a little bit of fussiness. I probably should have been video taping it since he seemed to be moving pretty darn well.

I think I'll have to just lunge for real before I ride, get him loosened up a bit. Supposedly the canter is a better place to start than the trot as it loosens up their backs better so they'll be ready to do a nice trot.

Axel is starting to learn that as soon as he picks up that correct lead on the canter and does it nice without freaking out, he can stop. I think he knows it. It seems like he'll pick it up nice then whoa and look at me. When he freaks out and does his bronc impression he just keeps going. He's also starting to really get the turn on the forehand from the ground. Still not much on the bending his neck, we worked on a that a bit next to the wall so he couldn't spin. I also did some leg stretches for him since he was warm I thought it would be the perfect opportunity. Though as soon as he got off the arena footing to the cement he walked like a 90 year old man that had been sitting for 10 years. But right back on the grass out side he was fine again. Joints? Ringbone? The stretching? Not sure what that was about.

First Trail Ride of the Season

2009-06-14T21:14:00.001-05:00

I'm pretty sure Cody knew something was up after I groomed him and let him stand in the crossties with Amigo in a stall while the barn owner and I loaded saddles into the trailer. Luckily he loaded after about three attempts of "front feet in, fly backwards." He didn't know what to do with his head to make himself fit in the slant load though, so there was a lot of pushing to get the divider shut. Amigo jumped right in and Diva likewise and we were off to Lebanon Hills. Another notch in my belt for Minnesota Horse Trails.

Cody got out of the trailer a sweaty mess, partly because it was pretty warm and partly because he was a nervous basket case. He aimed himself towards "home" despite being 10 miles away and was actually fairly reluctant to follow the other horses down the trail at first. But I'll admit this is our first away from home trail ride that he walked, willingly, most of the time. The only time he trotted was when he'd fall behind and want to catch up. He wouldn't even canter more than a few strides when we all decided to have a go. He stuck next to Danny who was gaiting, and he trotted his heart out to keep up. We didn't go in the water since I wasn't sure how it would work with his hoof boots on so we just watched Danny wade and Diva do her best *not* to get wet. By the end we did almost all of the 9+ miles available and probably more since I there was a little backtracking on some of the trails. Cody was getting pretty tired by the end and my hips were killing me, though I think we were only out for maybe 2-3 hours. Cody jumped right in the trailer to go home, this time we put him in second and he fit a bit better. He got hosed off a bit when we got home and then found himself a couple nice spots to roll in the pasture. Hopefully we didn't undo any of the chiropractic work from Friday and hopefully I'll be able to catch him next time I ride (going to try and alternate days for each horse now instead of riding both every day).

Unfortunately I didn't think to take any photos of my awesome summer riding pants, pink plaid, and you can't really see them in this photo that one of the other boarders took. Oh well, next time. You can see Cody's cute boots and the fact I'm riding on a long rein, I did my best to just stay out of his way and let him be happy.

Warm Ride

2009-06-13T14:21:00.004-05:00

Just a quick trip out to the barn today to check on the horses post adjustment. Cody was actually waiting at the gate so I took him in and groomed him and we did some ground work in the arena. He wasn't terribly excited and just wanted to walk on the lunge. I didn't push him but I did ask for a trot just to make sure he was just feeling lazy and not in pain. It's amazing how good he is at backing up from the ground and not under saddle. We didn't work long, it was pretty warm in the arena and I hadn't opened the doors yet since it would mean more distraction. I'll admit that Cody hadn't turned into some genius and super cooperative horse over night, his reactions were the same as they always were but there was a lot more chewing and licking than usual. I hadn't put the saddle on him so I don't know if he'd still yawn at the sight of it. That will remain to be seen I guess.

I brought Axel into the barn to groom and see how he was feeling. He was pretty pokey on the gravel and the cement but he seemed fine in the arena. I decided to jump on bareback and just ride around a bit. I managed to jump up from the mounting block and actually get on. Axel even stood there without moving, it would have been quite the sight had he moved since getting on bareback is not my forte. We just wandered around for a while before my butt was too hot to keep riding.

It was only low 70s today and it was pretty warm. Looks like high 70s for tomorrow and we're planning on going out to Lebanon Hills so it could be a very toasty ride. I think it'll be time to bust out the pink plaid pants.

Chiropractor Day

2009-06-12T19:42:00.003-05:00

Got out to the barn about an hour early, I figured that should be enough time to groom both horses and not have to rush. Of course then I get a call that the chiropractor was running late so we spent quite a bit of time in the arena just hanging out. I figured putting them in stalls for too long would mean antsy horses.

Cody went first and as suspected had the most issues. Nothing glaring confined to one spot but lots of issues all over. His jaw, neck, poll, withers, back, ribs, and sacrum all had some issues. It'll be interesting to see if the jaw issues will make him yawn less.

Axel really had no issues to speak of. He had a couple ribs out but that was the extent of it and that is apparently pretty normal of every horse. He had so few issues that the chiropractor only charged me half for his adjustment. So he said I shouldn't expect any changes from Axel at all. This was the same as his first adjustment in 2007. So I don't think I'll get Axel adjusted from now on unless there's an issue. Cody on the other hand will get put on the 2x a year. I think there's couple other girls that have the same vet out so I'll try and get on their schedule so we can split the farm call charge.

He gave Axel the go-ahead to ride on Saturday and said to wait on Cody til Sunday but some in-hand work would be good, they shouldn't stand in a stall or anything after the adjustment.

We Lost Reverse

2009-06-11T20:54:00.004-05:00

Out to the barn again to ride with another boarder and possibly the barn owner. I checked out Axel to make sure he was feeling okay after the previous days ride. He decided to trot away from me in the pasture so I took that as a good sign that he was just fine. The one hunter girl was jut finishing up as I groomed Cody. No one else had arrived yet so I did a bit of ground work in the arena while we waited. If no one was going to show up I was going to let Cody have the night off so I didn't tack right away. The other boarder showed up after a bit and we tacked our horses. The barn owner wasn't going to be back in time so we decided on just a quick ride down the road and back.

Cody was slow and reluctant and we had a hard time keeping up with Danny, we had to trot a lot. When we finally got down the block and turned he was a little easier to get into the trot. Eventually that turned into a canter and Danny was gaiting next to us as fast as possible. Eventually he broke into a canter as well. It was a pretty good ride. Cody's canter was pretty big and a little on the out-of-control let's-run-home side of life but he transitioned down pretty easily. He was a little more energetic on the way home, trotting a bit, we had a few minor arguments on if we were going to walk or not but for the most part it was a nice ride back.

Instead of going past the driveway we went right to work on backing up down the driveway. Cody had other ideas. I thought we had backed up enough steps the time before that he'd figure it out, he's usually pretty quick to pick up those things. But he was not playing my game. He'd take just a few hesitant half steps, not enough for me to even stop early. At that point all I wanted was some good purposeful steps backwards and we'd stop since I wasn't going to get him all the way down the driveway. Instead I'd get one tiny shift backwards, head tossing, yawning, and only forward movement. The best I could do was when he wouldn't go backwards we went down the road again. The side effect was that he was much happier leaving the barn than backing home at that point. I even tried using a whip as an extra appendage to tap his chest. I was trying to translate our ground work to saddle but it just wasn't happening. Unfortunately I was getting a lot of head tossing to the point where I'm a little concerned and don't want to make it a new habit. I finally got off after a few sort of okay but crooked steps back. I was able to get him to back a bunch of steps then from the ground. Sometimes that horse makes me wonder. Back to the drawing board on our backing up under saddle I guess.

Riding on the Road

2009-06-10T20:54:00.005-05:00

Axel's turn this time to go down the road. He trotted up to me in the pasture so I figured he was feeling better. He was really tender on the driveway but I gave him a little bute in case he was still off. Found another gross tick when I was grooming, yuck, I hate the big ones. I send Axel in a couple circles in the arena just to make sure and he seemed to be feeling fine so off we went. The barn owner, another border, and I. Axel had his work cut out for him because the other two horses were Tennessee Walking Horses. We had to do a bit of trotting to keep up, which wasn't a whole lot more than if we were riding with Oly. The way back we trotted nearly the whole way, the other horses had sped up a bit and Axel just wouldn't walk out so trot it was. He was trotting sound even on the hard dirt road and I don't think the 1g of Bute he got would cover up much pain so that was a good sign. No bucking or jumping or too much general crankiness at all. Would have been a really nice ride if he was able to keep up at a walk. So in the end I had a pretty sweaty horse but he seemed happy and he needs the exercise, he's getting kind of fat.

Might try and tag along and ride with them again tomorrow, probably Cody this time. Then we have the chiropractor on Friday. Then they want to go to Lebanon Hills on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go. We'll see how Cody is feeling after his adjustment. I'd rather take him since he'd keep up better, but I suppose Axel won't be too bad, I think it's a dirt trail and pretty easy terrain, if we have to trot it shouldn't be too bad. We'll see. I'm pretty sure they know I don't have a trailer so hopefully my guy can jump in with the barn owner. I'm glad to ride with other people finally again. It's a nice break from circling in the arena.

No More Circles

2009-06-09T21:32:00.002-05:00

We finally broke out of the arena and went for a ride down the road with another boarder. I was early so I was going to groom and lunge and do some stuff with Axel but he had other ideas. I nearly had to carry him across the driveway to the barn, he was slow and sort of lame but I couldn't figure out what was hurting him. I groomed him and then took him into the arena to evaluate what was wrong with him. Actually in the arena he wasn't really lame. He walked on the lunge line and didn't seem lame. He might have been a tiny bit off on one of his front legs but I couldn't pick it out. I only asked him to trot once, he pitched his usual fit and then trotted on as sound as he usually is. So I thought maybe he's not feeling well, of course if he wasn't feeling well it had nothing to do with his appetite. He was more than willing to pig out on the grass. So who knows what is up with him. Probably just sore after his little stunt on Sunday. We'll see how he is tomorrow.

So my little plan to not ride Cody isn't working out too well. We did a bit of ground work first and then went to groom. The ride out away from the barn was painfully slow. When we got to the first turn we trotted quite a ways and that seemed to snap Cody out of his barn sour funk. Of course the trip back was much faster, less fighting, and generally just a better ride. We passed the driveway on the way home and then my next plan was to back down the driveway. We only manged to get a little ways but at that point we had been sitting at the bottom of the drive fighting. He backed a little then would refuse. Finally I got a good 4-5 steps backwards so I called that good. We'll keep working on it, I think he'll get it after a while. Especially when he realizes backing down the driveway means we're done and we're home.

Happy Birthday Cody!

2009-06-08T10:21:00.002-05:00

Cody is 19 years old today!

I don't have an actual birth date for Axel but he turns 16 this year, so happy birthday to Axel as well.

Gloomy Day = Frisky Horses

2009-06-07T15:10:00.003-05:00

Since it rained all day Saturday I hadn't made it out to the barn since Thursday. Cody was still wearing his fly mask but Axel had figured out how to get his off without un-vecroing it. He kindly put it in the mud and probably stepped on it. Such a nice horse. I hung both of them up on the fence. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow so Cody should be okay as far as the sun goes. Hopefully the rain will clean off the mud a bit.

It was pretty chilly out today and both horses were feeling a little frisky. I just groomed Cody and did some ground work. I'm doing my best to not ride him til after his adjustment on Friday. He was a little uncooperative and didn't want to finish a circle when it meant facing away from the gate. Though he was switching directions with energy today which doesn't happen often lately. There's a few horses in the middle paddock right now to give the pasture a chance to grow so Cody is pretty happy to have new friends to talk to.

Axel was a handful today as well and he's probably going to be feeling it tomorrow. He trotted on the lunge line like a tiger was chasing him. Instead of cantering he put on a good show imitating a saddle bronc. He's doing pretty okay remembering how to do the turns from the ground. Still can't get him to bend, I need to spend a lot more time just spinning around til he gets it but that's a lot of spinning. He did pretty well under saddle considering his bronc impression. We worked on a walk on a loose rein, then some corner circles and some serpentines, and then we worked on some halts. He's been yanking the reins when he halts so we played with that a bit before calling it a day. The good news is that he's been backing out of the big barn door really well lately. We'll have to start working through a smaller area.

New Masks

2009-06-04T18:16:00.003-05:00

Just grooming today, it was warm and I had been to the barn every night this week. I just groomed outside but it was hot in the sun so it was a pretty quick groom. Both horses got some fly spray and their new fly masks. Hopefully Cody's will keep some of the sun off his pink nose.

I heard back from the chiropractor and I have an appointment for the boys next Friday so I'm taking the day off of work. Yay. I'll be curious to see how bad Cody is, he's pretty flinchy near his left flank, almost to the sacrum. So I'll be surprised if he's not out there at the very least. But his behavior suggests he's out in more places than just that. When the chiropractic is done then I think it's time to start working on Cody's top line maybe with some lunging and the bitting rig possibly even adding some ground poles for him. There's a nice gradual hill in front of the barn as well that I'd like to get him backing up.

No Clever Title Today

2009-06-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

Axel first tonight. He snoozed in the crossties while I groomed and tacked. Right as we were finishing up one of the hunter girls came into ride also. So Axel got a little more experience working with the distraction of another horse in the arena. He was fairly well behaved and didn't try and kick the other horse though we didn't get in each other's way at all so he probably didn't have an opportunity. Some walking, trotting, no real cantering just the "I'm not going to trot" canter. We did a little ground work to round out the evening.

Cody was second and he was pretty stressed out in the crossties but he calmed down in the arena even working on ground tying. I left the chiropractor a message so hopefully I can get that scheduled soon. Once the saddle and bridle were on Cody turned into lead and would not move for me. I managed to get him to the block and get on and he moved fine under saddle but I can tell he's no comfortable with the whole situation. I should probably stop riding him til he can get adjusted (he'll appreciate that for sure). We walked for a while with no reins and then trotted for a while, just a nice little trot. No cantering tonight. We did some minor work on the turns and some trot to halt. Our backing up is still really sluggish and reluctant. I got off and tried to ground tie and walk away but he wasn't too happy to face away from the gate while I went out of his sight, he did alright though, he tried. I backed him to the gate but like I said he's really reluctant so it too quite some escalation to get him to move, even then it was slow.

Cody couldn't see Axel in the pasture when we were done, he was behind the lean-to, and he just about made me deaf screaming in my ear trying to find Axel. Wow do I wish the herdbound thing would go away. I keep thinking all the times I take a horse away and bring him back would start to teach Cody that it's not the end of the world but so far no luck.

Manicure Day

2009-06-02T20:46:00.003-05:00

It was farrier day at the barn so I skipped out of work early to get there in time. The barn owner already had Axel in a stall (standing quietly I might add, yay Axel). Cody was having his usual fit in the pasture. The farrier was just about done with Danny so I brought Cody in to get trimmed. He, of course, stood like a champ for the trim, he always does. Cody always gets these purple/pink/red spots on his hooves so I asked about them. Come to find out they are bruises but the farrier said he and his farrier cohorts haven't figured out exactly the cause. Originally they thought they were coming from the coronary band and moving down but evidence suggests that's not the case. So the best they can figure in their discussions is that the bruises come from the sole of the foot and travel out the wall. Interesting stuff. I really like this farrier, he asks what kind of work the horse does and how often and looks at the hooves to decide how to trim. I put Cody in a stall so Axel could get trimmed. It's a good time to practice being in a stall, which they both seem to handle well if there's other horses nearby. Alone in the barn might be a different story but alone in the pasture is difficult already.

Axel behaved fairly well, he gets a little antsy but nothing horrible. I turned him out while Cody had a minor fit. It was too nice out to go home and the barn was now empty so Cody and I worked on some groundwork for a while. He wasn't paying total attention being lunged, he got better with the turns, okay at the bending, and he wasn't thrilled with backing up. I had his attention at this point so I grabbed a lunge whip and tried a bit more lunging and more turns. I wanted to put away the whip so I dropped the lead and told him to "stand." And from there we worked on ground tying for quite a while. He was getting the picture and staying put or correcting himself with just a verbal cue. After some back and forth I was able to get about half the arena length away from him to put away the whip while he stood and watched. He actually stayed almost entirely concentrated on me with only a few glances out the door at the other horses. I let him off the hook, as it were, and went to grab the short lead rope and an apple. Following my unwritten rules I led Cody (at liberty) to the far end of the arena to give him his treat and clip on the leadrope. He got a little pushy after his apple, he really wanted to get back out the pasture and knew the apple must mean the end of our work. So we backed up from the far end of the arena to the gate. There was a little work involved in that but we made it and cody came back down to earth to listen to me. We backed out the barn door as usual and grazed for a while in the yard.

I did a little groundwork with Axel just in the pasture and it was almost as if he remembered some of our previous work, believe it or not! We did our turns pretty okay considering he was really more interested in grazing. That was about all we worked on, I checked for ticks and called it a night. I'm starting to think Axel might be gaining some weight. I hope he's not eating Cody's food, Cody needs to gain weight not Axel!

Nice Evening

2009-06-01T22:00:00.004-05:00

The hunter girls were having their lesson when I got to the barn tonight so I groomed Cody in the aisle and then did some ground work outside on the grass. Ground work on nice fluffy grass is not an easy task, let me tell you, someone thought it was snack time not work time. I ended up putting on his saddle and riding out in the pasture. Axel was kind enough to leave us alone and actually give us a little challenge to work on. Cody was pretty calm with life but he was slightly concerned that he was out working and Axel was grazing without him. So we worked on that for a while, also the footing is a little more "iffy" so he had to pay attention and I got a bit more of a riding challenge. Thirdly I thought we'd work on some cantering with all the extra space but Cody wasn't on the same page. We couldn't really get the correct lead but we did have plenty of chances to work on controlling "runaways." After a few pretty bad run offs Cody got the picture and paid attention to where I wanted to turn. He still had some issues with relaxing and collecting but I guess you take what you can get. Still working on the rein back and we spent a little time working on the turn on the haunches. For some reason I am better at turn on the forehand from the ground and turn on the haunches under saddle. We un-tacked in the aisle and backed out of the barn.

The hunter girls finished up so I brought Axel in and groomed him. Found a wood tick in his forelock but that was the only one. He was very patient for grooming and would have probably taken a nap if I had let him. We did a couple circles lunging, there was a lot less fuss over the canter tonight. We spent a few minutes on our turns again and it seemed like perhaps he was finally catching on and we did some backing as well. I rode the walk for a while and then we worked on the trot in two point. I was hoping that two point would help get me off that foot and he could trot out for a while maybe work on stretching his neck and lifting his back. It went alright to the right but he was pretty unhappy to the left even in two point. I didn't fight with him too long, I want him to figure out it's the same to the right and the left especially when we're on a straight-a-way. Rein back under saddle is still reluctant with Axel but I'll keep working. I spent some time trying to get him to do turn on the haunches as well.

After my ride I went and watched one of the other boarders do some drill work with some of her fellow mounted posse members. She let me ride Danny around a bit before they got started working. It was a gorgeous sunset so I had to take some photos. Tomorrow: farrier day.

Lots of Ground Work

2009-05-30T18:34:00.004-05:00

I'm getting a little bored of riding alone so much since I get to the barn more often now. To combat that I think I really need to start doing a lot more ground work with the horses. Starting today.

It was Cody's turn today to work on some cantering. But first we worked on some ground work. Axel stayed in the pasture and had a minor conniption about being alone. Cody and I worked on some of the moving away from pressure with turns on the forehand, which he got pretty well, and turns on the haunches - not so well. Worked on the bending exercises and some backing up. We did some circles at the walk and trot. We even worked on a little bit of ground tying which went surprisingly well. After that I rode for a while and tried to get some canters but we mostly ended up just trotting as fast as humanly (or horsely) possible. How did Steph get him to canter so well? We made a couple attempts at the various turns in the corners of the arena and then dismounted and did a couple stretches. I'm going to have to look at my horse massage/stretching books and get some more ideas for Cody to work on lifting his back.

I took Axel's screaming to mean he wanted to be worked with as well. The first thing we did was walk into the barn and then back out twice and he did it both times well. So he came into the arena and did some lunging. He did really well at the trot in the first direction, a little crankier in the other direction, and pretty cranky about cantering but that's pretty normal. I worked a little with the turn on the forehand from the ground, he got it okay but I think we'll have to keep working on that stuff with him a lot, he doesn't catch on and retain like Cody does. We then worked on some backing up, I wanted to back a whole lap of the arena but we made it around maybe 1/4 or more so that was pretty good. I decided I wasn't done yet and I didn't want to ride so I got out the long lines and the surcingle and we drove for a while and then switched to long lining. I think the long lines are too heavy though, despite having as much slack as he wanted he was still pretty frustrated and seemed like he was forced into a frame. Though good for him to stretch like that I don't think he enjoyed it. He was quite ticked when I asked for a trot and kicked out but manged to have a couple nice trots after that but they were very small and vertical. I tried to do some weaving but I didn't set up the cones before I hooked up Axel so I only was able to get out two and well it was just kind of a loss at that point. I did lunge him a bit more after the driving so he could stretch out the opposite way and he had a very nice extended trot. When we were done he backed out of the barn aisle one more time.

Axel's Turn

2009-05-29T20:00:00.004-05:00

Luckily when I got out to the barn tonight the one hunter girl was just finishing up her ride. I groomed Axel in the crossties while she finished riding. She had some of the big barn doors open so it was pretty nice in the arena. I had been debating between going down the road and riding inside. Since it was seemingly deserted I decided to ride in the arena and do some video taping. I wanted to see if I could get Axel's new found canter departure on film.

Cody decided to have a complete fit while we were in the barn. He's been fairly okay lately but tonight he decided it was the end of the world that he was alone. I lunged Axel a bit, he was good at the trot but had some issues with the canter particularly to the left (I think). Lots of random bucking.

When I mounted we had an okay walk for a while. The trot was also just okay. He offered a couple canters instead of the trot probably just from his leg hurting. It took some work to keep him at a trot. I only asked for the canter a few times but when he offered it I tried to keep him going. That's what is going to kill me tomorrow. I already worked on a bit of trot on Wednesday and am sore from that. Heh oh well.

The barn owner came in to work with one of her horses so while she groomed and tacked Axel and I cooled off by working on square corners and some small circles to try and get to some turns on the haunches and forehand. I should spend more time working on that stuff with Axel since trotting and cantering isn't really our forte. Which means a lot more work on the ground. He's kind of frustrating because he doesn't pick up on that stuff as fast as Cody does. We'd still be spinning in circles if I was trying to get him to bend like Cody does.

Working on the Road

2009-05-28T20:27:00.003-05:00

I just went for a quick ride tonight with Cody. Picked up a few things at Fleet Farm on my way. One of which was a thin felt underpad. In the end I want to use it under Axel's yellow blanket but until Cody puts on a bit more weight I'm using it to double up on his pads. I groomed and tacked him up outside and we were off (slowly) down the road. I will be very interested to see if our trips away from the barn will speed up at all after he gets his back done by the chiropractor. Last time it made a world of difference. We only made it a little way down the road. Cody won't walk straight he weaves back and forth so he can try and keep an eye back on the barn/pasture. When I was finally able to get him to walk straight for more than a couple steps that's when we turned around for home. I wanted to make him "work" on the way home but the road is really busy so it's kind of difficult. We did do some circles, we turned around and walked away again, and we passed by the drive way. We also did some trotting in front of the barn and I was going to work on backing up since he did so good the day prior but it didn't really happen. I had bought a fly mask at Fleet Farm that was supposed to cover his nose and help it not get sunburnt but it wasn't even close to covering his nose. So I guess I have to order a Cashel fly mask.

Time for Shots

2009-05-28T14:26:00.004-05:00

Stephanie came out yesterday to show me how to do vaccines and we went for a little ride around the arena as well. Groomed both horses in the crossties, they were fairly patient as far as that went, tacked 'em up and we were off. Originally my thought was a trail ride down the road but it was cold and threatening rain so we stuck to the arena. Steph rode Cody and I rode Axel. Axel had his fast pants on and we had to circle frequently so we didn't run over Cody. We did a bit of trotting and experimented with posting diagonals to check out if his crankiness was learned or if it was actually his back left foot. It was his back left, unhappy horse when you sit on that diagonal in both directions. So I might be posting the correct right diagonal and the incorrect left diagonal from now on. We'll see how that works out. We attempted a few canters purely because when I post that one diagonal Axel either bucks or tries to canter. We went with the canter as long as he was offering. Oddly none of the cantering felt good, it was the correct lead (right) and wasn't disunited but it just felt yucky. He kind of leaps into it and puts his head down and I think he's going to buck. Turns out ... he's actually striking off into the canter with his rear end (like he's supposed to) and he's brining up his back and putting his head down a bit to do so. Aka, this is what a real canter from Axel should feel like. Go figure. Sure makes my legs hurt, though he did have a few wonky sort of bucky canters that I had to squeeze him through.

Steph worked on some trotting and cantering with Cody as well as some halt and giving to the bit. She had him backing on a super light rein. She had him working on little bits of turn on the haunches, an 1/8th of a circle at a time. He struck off at the canter on the first request on his good side, it was a little more work on his bad side (left I think) but he managed. His canter doesn't look as speedy and big as it feels. It actually looks kind of "sporty" to me, almost like a reiner. He was doing a nice regular trot for her while she posted - no speeding up. And they worked on a really calm western trot as well.

Axel and I worked on backing off the bridge for a while which worked well 2 times and then he refused to cooperate any longer. After fighting through that 3rd attempt we managed a 4th attempt and called it a night on that. He's so goofy about it, hops right up on the bridge before I'm even ready but backing off it - heck no! We played a little with the bowing and treats but he turns in a big beggar when there's treats or anything that might be a treat so I don't think I'll be treating him by hand any longer. Cody did some stretching for treats with Steph and was very polite about it. She gave him his shots to show me how and I gave Axel his. It went well and was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be.

Cody's little fight of the day came when I saw some wood ticks on his nose. He was displeased and would not keep his head down for us to pull them out. He goes into immediate giraffe impression as soon as something gets near his nose that is not petting. I really have to keep working with him on that but he seems to do well when there aren't ulterior motives, he's too smart that way. I am going to pick him up a fly mask with a nose piece on it to keep away some of the sunburn he's prone too since he won't let me put any cream on his nose.

Jeff and I Ride

2009-05-26T07:38:00.003-05:00

Finally got Jeff to come out and ride with me. He might be regretting it now, after hiking for a week he thought riding would be a piece of cake. He forgot the whole connection between how the horse moves and how the rider moves just like they are walking. We groomed and tacked in the cross ties and then set out on the road after some fighting to get the horses to stop grazing every few steps. Once they were told that wasn't the game plan they seemed to manage the rest of the ride without diving for grass.

Cody was the slow poke again on this ride and Axel was just booking it ahead. Of course he'd get too far ahead and start calling back to Cody. By the time we got to the side road Cody caught up mostly. Axel/Jeff took off a few times without warning and Cody lept into the trot to keep up. We had to go over how to pull Axel up out of a buck since he couldn't seem to canter properly. He finally settled down on the way back home. He was still very interested in the two calves and when they took a few steps out of the trees both Cody and Axel jumped. Cody actually spooked at several things on this trip, a log and a plant for example. Of course on the way back Cody got his second wind but maintained a walk the whole way. We managed to walk past the driveway and turn around without a fight before heading back to the barn. Axel had a harder time going past the driveway but he was leading at that point.

Axel always confounds me, he goes from perfect for a 10 year old kid to a real pain in the butt for Jeff in a matter of days. I told Jeff he should come ride more in the arena and get more comfortable on Axel, he looks a little off kilter when he rides and he won't admit it but Axel takes advantage of him every chance he gets. Maybe Jeff and I will take those western riding lessons I keep talking about.

Axel Found Go

2009-05-22T21:36:00.001-05:00

I thought Axel kind of looked like a racehorse in this photo. He was all shiny and tall. He must have actually been channeling a bit of racehorse when I got on to ride he was moving out at the walk more than ever before. I decided to stick with the walk since he was so willing and I gave him a long rein. We didn't ride for long, just did some circles and a few sloppy serpentines. I always hope he remembers "hey when I actually step out a bit she gets off right away."

I was going to just hang out in the pasture for a while when I was done riding because no one was around to wonder what in the world I was doing. But they came home so I decided to ride Cody for a few minutes instead. He wasn't thrilled to be in the cross ties but we made do. I was more-so wasting time until Jeff got back to the cities and I had to go pick him up. Cody has been slower and slower these days so hopefully I can get the chiropractor out soon and fix him up a bit. I guess he and Axel traded their walks or something. Since he's been kind of skinny lately too we mostly just walked with a very small amount of trotting. I've added a second thing saddle blanket just to try and pad up his back a bit until he gains some weight back but I don't want to be slamming around on him in any case. He's definitely improved in the arena, he'll now willingly face away from the gate to be dismounted, I guess he figured out that was easier than fighting it. We haven't had too many issues with "inching" in the arena lately, but that'll be put to the test next time we go on a real trail ride or something. We still need work on backing up, maybe that'll go better after the chiro. He sure goes backward fast when he's pissed about being ridden away from the barn!

Way Too Hot

2009-05-20T20:40:00.002-05:00

Cody looked a little mopey in the pasture yesterday. I groomed him outside and I nearly passed out from the heat. It was obvious we weren't going to ride so I found a spot in the shade to sit while Cody grazed. I thought maybe it'd be cooler in the arena so I groomed Axel in there but it was still too hot so it was back to the pasture and I went home to cool off. It's supposed to be cooler over the weekend so hopefully I can get some riding in and maybe someone else will be around to ride with.

Axel Has a Calling

2009-05-18T21:19:00.002-05:00

Hopefully I can get some photos from tonight but for now all you get is text. My best friend from 6th-8th grade found me on Facebook last year and we always talked about getting together to catch up but today we finally did it. Liz's mom messaged me and said "hey can we come down and meet your horses and hang out?" So Liz, her mom, and Liz's 10 year old son all came down for some horse time. Liz's son is on the Autism spectrum so being a therapeutic riding instructor, horse time sounds good to me. We brought Axel into the crossties and everyone did some grooming which he stood for like a complete expert.

We saddled him up and brought him into the arena. I sent him around a few circles at the trot just to make sure the saddle was in the right place and that his head was in the right place. I led Liz's son around for a while and showed him how to steer and ask for a walk on and whoa. After a while he rode around without me leading. Axel just walked around, went where he was told, and didn't protest one bit. Liz's son got a little over zealous and asked Axel to trot which surprised him but it was only a few strides and everyone survived. He probably rode around for a good 45 minutes, at least it seemed that long just watching. Axel looked really good, he was carrying himself well, he was shiny, and he looked very nice.

Liz took a turn riding for a while and they wanted me to ride a bit and "go fast." Axel actually had a couple nice canters and one disunited canter. But no bucking so yay Axel. Liz's son wanted to get back on one more time and do some trotting so I led and we trotted a few times before we called it a night. Axel took a while but finally showed everyone how he can lay down and roll over. Liz's son decided he really likes the horses and was hugging all over Axel and the same on Cody when we turned Axel out. I knew Axel would be a good therapy horses or heck just a good kid's horse.

Holy Wind, Batman

2009-05-16T20:20:00.003-05:00

I didn't realize quite how windy it was until I got on the horse. Groomed Cody outside, tacked him up, added a second thin saddle blanket to his outfit, threw on his hoof boots, and we headed down the driveway. Cody was very indecisive and really wanted to be back at the barn but we plugged along. We made it down the one side of the road in the ditch and crossed over to the other side to go a little further. In addition to the wavering he also spent a lot of time trying to back up. Which just proves that he can back up a lot easier then the lets me think when I ask for it. Luckily he's pretty reluctant to really spazz out so a swift kick to the sides snaps him out of his reverse gear. I'm hoping that he figures out how much nicer it is to just go forward when I want than to fight the whole way. When he was moving forward decently we turned around and went back.

The first few yards he brought out his 2 beat walk, tried a little trot, and then settled in. He sped up again when a car whizzed by us, it was so windy you couldn't hear the cars til they were right up your rear end. About 2 blocks from the barn Cody settled in and walked at a pace slightly faster than on the way out. We went past the driveway, turned around, and then went back to the barn.

I just groomed Axel a bit, still trying to get off some of the red winter hair but it's not all gone yet. He was nice and shiny until I started brushing and that just brought all the dust to the top. Whoops. I managed to get Axel to do some leg stretches which I plan to try and do every time I'm out there. I lunged him a little in the pasture just to get him to move a bit before turning him out and heading home.