Another Weekend Down

Friday afternoon I zipped out to TC after work. I left early enough this time so that if I had to go on another carrot excursion, I wouldn't be stressed about getting there on time.

Luckily the fruit stand had carrots, so I was all good. Phew. I got to TC in record time, despite the traffic feeling like it was really bad. I guess my perspective was way off. I was actually able to spend almost an hour with him because I didn't have to rush out of there.

So cute

His nose is so little

I got there and called for him, and he nickered back. Ah he's so cute. And what a difference my level of anxiety/adrenaline/nerves/feelings makes on this horse. Last week he was so nutty and obnoxious when I got there, but this week he just quietly nuzzled at me. Last week I was a bit on edge due to work, traffic, frenzied carrot purchases, etc. Whereas this week I was nice and relaxed after a light work day and leaving early. Definitely learning things about him even if I only see him once a week for less than an hour.

He had removed the wrap on the bad leg, so I got to see it before wrapping it for them. The suspensory is a bit thicker at the base of the knee where the origin site is. But again I think that's just what it's going to look like. I think at this point we've done our best and I feel confident that I can bring him back to the best of my ability and it will just be a waiting game to see if the leg holds up to work. Rico has a similar thickness in both his suspensory and check and neither of those have ever bothered him. And he injured them doing a much less stupid thing (both were from playing in less than perfect footing).

RF wrap done by me, I tried to wrap it the same
way as they do

The owners weren't there, so I kind of took advantage of having a ton of time with him. But I didn't get an update on him, which is fine. He's probably just walking and swimming every day. Hopefully he's working up toward the hour of walking per day (2x 30 minutes) and he might even be there now. I'm sure he's enjoying that a lot more than when he started with 10 minutes twice a day.

I gave him a really good curry. He loves being curried and stops eating to stick his little nose out and wiggle it. He's basically almost shed out by now, which is nice since Rico is shedding like crazy and it's a pain in the ass to groom him. I also brushed out his tail, which took the longest. He normally has his tail brushed out when I get there but that was fine, it's relaxing to brush it. And it's so pretty. It has gotten REALLY long, so let's hope I can remember to bring scissors to trim it so he doesn't step on it and pull it out. Not that pulling even half the tail out would result in him having an ugly tail.

Sick of being a model for me

We have a little routine now with the carrots. I had him smile, did some carrot stretches, and worked on our "stand" and "back" commands. His favorite by far is his creepy fucking smile.

I noticed that he always turned his head the same way (to my right, his left) and I started thinking that maybe his poll was out and how he was so broken and crooked. Or maybe he just learned that he gets carrots when he does that. So I decided that he could learn to be even weirder. I started by turning my head to the side he turns, and he twisted his face to match mine, smiled, and got a carrot. Then I turned my head the other way. Once as he figured out that he wasn't getting a carrot, he tried everything, and finally landed on twisting his face the other way, got a carrot.

So eventually he'll be creepily smiling to the right and to the left. And then I'm going to teach him to follow how I'm turning my head and get him to be really unnerving as he follows your gaze around while smiling. I was cracking up the whole time, he's so funny about this stuff. I need to figure out some more tricks that are less creepy. I'll look something up, but we're limited- a lot of tricks involve teaching them to do things like pawing/picking up feet (NO) or standing on stuff (NO).

His mane wants to flip over... NO. Also he has
no topline, embarrassing

Doesn't look like his fancy little self anymore

After spending almost an hour with him, I headed out. I can't just live there with him and I had a horse to ride. But it made me so excited to get him back even just to hang out with him. This week's obsessive planning mostly involved things other than dressage I want to do- liberty work, going through the trail course, riding bareback in the halter, all that stuff.

I did my taxes and the great news is that my refund covers the rest of him, so he'll officially be mine. Well, he's mine now (obviously, I'm paying an outrageous amount of vet bills), but I don't get his FSHA papers until I completely pay him off. I'm excited about getting those. Even though I already have a copy of them so I've already played around with his bloodlines.

I still need to email Ideal's owners to tell them that I bought them, I think TC is the only baby out of a Friesian mare and they had asked TC's old owners to send them pictures/updates because they were curious. I want to wait until he's not lame though. So that way when they ask how he is, I don't have to be like "I broke him!" And I can send them updated pictures of him undersaddle where he'll be more gray.

He's getting so gray, I can't wait to get some muscle on him

I also got a text from Ali, TC's old (part) owner and the person who introduced us and babysat us and hauled us everywhere last year. She's eager to see him again when he moves back down past his breeder's barn. I guess she rode with Tracey last weekend at WMF and I got a tinge of jealously. I think I'm going to beg trainer friend for a lesson on my BFF horse. I really want a lesson! I haven't had one since September, and have only had three in the last year and a half, boo.

I'm putting away the rest of the refund into the horse account (typical). All we need to do is be able to ride for a half hour in a somewhat sane manner before I can sign up to ride with Tracey again. Definitely a massive goal of mine this summer. I love lessons.

Four (or three maybe) more visits until the next ultrasound. And 64 days until he comes home hopefully. But we won't know that exact date until the next ultrasound, which is less than a month away!

An Update on Stretch

Thanks for everyone's guesses about what is going on with Stretch on Monday. It definitely helped me sort of wrap my head around all the possibilities. I don't talk about Stretch very much here, but after Rico, he's probably the most influential horse on my riding.

That spot on his neck was my "release spot"
over fences

I got an email on Tuesday afternoon at work from my mom and talked to her later that day. Stretch took a turn for the worst on Monday night. He was what my mom described as crab walking out to his paddock and then got to the point where he began circling over and over again. He had a "starry" look in his eyes, my mom thinks from the pain.

My parents called the vet out immediately, but it was 8pm. Still, someone came out, but she was a young vet assistant rather than their regular vet. The vet wasn't sure exactly what was going on but was guessing that it was a neck injury. Stretch didn't want to bend his neck but could if you really asked him to.

She didn't think it was broken or anything super severe, and Stretch passed all the head injury tests. She also mentioned EPM. There wasn't much to do that night, but she gave him some dex (and warned my parents of the risk of laminitis) and he was back to the way he was this last weekend on Tuesday morning/afternoon. That improvement made us all feel better.

Not this good, but better

Wednesday the regular vet (not my miracle vet, this vet is more local) came out. She was kind of late so I spent all day at work texting my mom asking how he was and getting "vet isn't here yet, will let you know" back. Finally after I had driven all the way home to get my damn wallet and put gas in my car, I was off to ride a client's horse across the bay and I got a call.

I guess the vet is fairly convinced that it's neurological, although I think her definition is different than mine would be. She thinks it's one of two things.

First, she took x-rays of his neck. One of the theories is that he had fractured or injured his neck or had neck arthritis. The vet was able to look at the x-rays at the ranch and come to the conclusion that he did not fracture his neck. She saw some arthritis in the facets of his C3/C4, which could be contributing to the pain. But she needs to look at them at the clinic, I haven't heard anything else though.

The theory would be that he has been developing neck arthritis for a while and then had a pasture accident (he has narcolepsy so sometimes falls asleep and actually falls, seriously it's a miracle he's alive) or similar that exacerbated it. Treatment was unclear, but regardless of what it is, Stretch is going on Previcox. He was kept off of it to help his liver (he developed liver disease a couple years ago after having a severe episode of Pigeon Fever, seriously the horse is lucky to be alive in the first place), but my mom said that he was getting old enough where it's better to keep him comfortable and risk damaging the liver rather than preserve the liver and have him be uncomfortable. I agree.

Aww love Stretch

The next thing she did was to pull blood to test for EPM. We don't hear back on this until Monday. The treatment may not bring him back completely, but the vet was pretty sure that he'd be good enough for pasture.

Generally, it was a fairly positive visit given how bad he was. My mom was even talking about being able to ride him again, maybe not on the hills she wants to ride on with my dad and Riot, but at least down the road and in the arena. I volunteered to be the first one on him.

She did talk about Rico too. This weekend I'm heading down for Easter and am going to give her a lesson on him. We've talked about bits, since one of my mom's biggest fears is not having brakes. I kind of laughed and said that she could ride him in anything and have all the brakes she needed. But I think that the hackamore I always ride him in will be fine, plus TC won't ever need it since it's too strong for him.

Permanent new partnership! I might steal him
sometimes all the time though :)

We're also going to figure out a saddle for her, since she wants to ride him western. The ultimate goal is to take measurements up to Western States Horse Expo in June and get a custom fit western saddle for him and for her. She wants a saddle that's lighter than the ones she has now. And none of the western saddles my parents have fit Rico. She sat in a saddle last year at Expo that was half synthetic and half leather and she loved it. It was light and fit her well. AND they do custom fitting, since Rico is probably the most uphill built western horse around.

I'm excited for the western saddle, I'm definitely going to be trying some western dressage on him!

Frantic Carrot Purchases

Friday my schedule was back to normal and I managed to get done with work early enough to head out to see TC. The week felt like it dragged on and on, so I was so happy to be on the road heading east again.

 I had gotten a text earlier in the week that TC was out of MSM so I went to the store to get him some on Thursday. I've been budgeting like a crazy person this month and last so that I can bring TC back without worrying about how much money lessons are going to cost, so I was really proud of myself for only touching all the pretty things but walking out with just the MSM. Still though, I saw the bridle I want to buy one day...

I love his big stupid grin

On the way to see TC, I always stop at an awesome fruit stand to get him an apple and some carrots. The people there are awesome and everything is locally grown, which I don't normally get too excited about, but you know, try to support the local economy. This time though, I stopped at the fruit stand and saw that they were out of carrots!

WHAT?!

So I spent the next twenty minutes driving around the silly little town with no Safeway looking for a market. I finally found a drug store and figured I could just get him peppermints. He's never had peppermints but what sort of horse hates peppermints? (um, mine does).

Carrot stretches

He's quite flexible

The thing with the bay area is that everything seems to move quickly (except the traffic). I had this problem interviewing for my current job with people in the Virginia office. They talked so slowly while I sounded like a cracked out chatterbox.

Out in the central valley where TC is though, everything seems to move slowly. I was standing in line positively buzzing with anticipation of getting back in the car and getting over to TC's before the barn closed down for the night. While I'm standing there checking my phone for the time and peering around the group of people to the one cash register open, I see the people just chatting. Not purchasing things, I mean they probably did earlier, but just chatting. With a long line of people behind them. None of whom seemed to care. Except me. I cared. A lot.

Finally they got a second cashier lady and I asked her "is there a grocery store around here?" just in case. The lady sort of gestured down the road in the opposite direction. So I figured the pony would be fine with his peppermints (he was not).

Driving down the highway I saw a really sketchy looking place, but it said market in the title, so I zipped across two lanes of traffic to get to it. I actually ran into the store. The lady inside tried to make the slowest small talk ever but I was like "I'mgoodneedcarrotsthankyou" and ran to the cash register. I probably looked like the most psychotic carrot purchaser ever. But I got them!

So cute

I made it in time to hang out with TC, who very much appreciated all that I had gone through to get him a bag of carrots. He spat out the peppermints, further reinforcing my frantic produce acquisition.

I was still hyped up on adrenaline just from being in a hurry all day and having a rough work week. But then I noticed that TC was mirroring my adrenaline, frantically sniffing me for carrots and getting a bit rude about it, more so than his usual rudeness. It definitely showed me that mindfulness will be key with this creature, something that I am not very talented at. I think the key will be making sure that my drive to the barn is extra relaxing, and that could mean getting off the highway early and taking a drive through the hills on the way to the barn instead of sitting in freeway traffic.

After I was there for a bit, the owner of the facility came over and told me that my vet had talked to them this week and that TC is going to be working up to a full hour of walking (two 30 minute sessions on the walker). I was really glad to hear that, since that just sounds like we're plugging along with his rehab. Other than that, no updates, except every time they tell me he loves swimming. Poor TC, after this, he may never get to swim again. Imagine if Michael Phelps' parents told him that?! Oh well.

I can't wait to get this horse back!!

Omg what is this though

Five more visits (could be four or even three, as we get closer the owners pick the date based on what works best for them, I like to assume it will be the farthest date).

After that then it's time to start making arrangements and bringing my plan to life. My fingers have been crossed so long I'm afraid they're just going to stay that way.


Update from yesterday's post on Stretch- my mom called and said she did the tail pull test and turned him in tight circles and he was fine with those. We're hoping this means it's not neurological. We find out tomorrow morning! Just hoping to get him to be more comfortable in his retirement.

Dressage Dinosaur

In the last week, I've ridden so many bay horses! This one though, you'll recognize, Ramone! Visit L's blog for a video of our attempt to make the poor dinosaur do dressage.

All pictures = screenshots from L's phone videos because we're
classy around here

I've never really ridden a horse who hasn't been ridden dressage. Most of the horses I've ridden in the last 10 years have been either dressage horses or eventers.

Little things stood out to us- like how Ramone's shoulder looked extra huge with my dressage saddle's straight flap vs L's jump saddle. And how Ramone had never had a crank noseband on his poor innocent face (we used his bit though, and the noseband wasn't cranked down). And how he'd never had a short girth on him. Culture shock!

What became really clear to me when I got on, was that Ramone was a little disturbed by my leg being down there. I'm a few inches taller than L and also obviously riding in long stirrups, so Ramone probably hasn't felt spurs on him so low. I touched him with my spur just lightly at the walk to see what he would do and his skin twitched under my leg.

His trot is so dreamy

At the end of a shoulder-in, damn my crookedness

Ramone then proved to both L and I that, like I said in this post, I can't just get on a horse and have the horse immediately do everything perfectly. Ramone gave zero fucks about what I did in the past. All he knew was that I was not warming him up the way he should be warmed up and that I had no idea what I was doing with my long stupid legs.

It took probably ten minutes to get him to a place where we both were at least somewhat in agreement. It was kind of hilarious. I told L she might have to get on and school him for me so that I could ride him lol. I think once as he realized that I was just asking for the same things he already knows, but in a different way (also that I wasn't going to give up), he started to try to figure out what I wanted rather than just writing me off as a complete idiot. I don't blame him!

Lengthening! 

So uphill and fancy!

After that though, it was smooth sailing for a while. To the left, we really figured each other out and had some great moments. He's definitely a physical ride, but he's not unwilling or rude about it, he just has a lot of body to maneuver. He's actually really similar to Rico in the snaffle (but more forward), which means that I'm super excited to get L on Rico this spring/summer and see what she can do with him.

To the right, we really struggled. His tendency is to bounce off the contact when things aren't right, so while to the left I could get him fairly steady, to the right we had some issues in the contact and I couldn't keep him on a circle. I've seen L ride him enough to know that it had to be something I was doing. Since like, this horse knows how to circle.

She said "what is your strong leg again?" and I said "my right" and she was like "mine is my left" and I immediately put my left leg on and everything got better. Without the left leg on to support him, he wanted to step out with the outside hind leg and fall in away from my (stronger) left rein. I had noticed that part of it and had put my right leg on and evened out my rein contact. But my left leg was floppy and he was being directed out that door with my right leg and left hand.

The canter was tricky for me as well because he really is a huge mover. Looking back at the video, he looks so calm and collected (except that I barely got screenshots at the canter because he was a blur!), but being on his back I was surprised at how much ground we were covering. That's what TC does to me too! And I had the same issue as I did on TC with my hip flexors not wanting me to sit the canter but we managed.

Go Ramone! He would like me to go away permanently

After WTC in each direction, I basically just pushed buttons. We started in shoulder-in and the right was definitely easier on me than the left, probably because of my stronger right leg (I think for L it was the opposite). He mostly wanted to fall out with the haunches that way (again due to my leg) so instead of thinking about driving his inside hind leg under, I thought about wrapping his body around my inside leg. Haunches in that way was better, I think because my left leg actually came on and he was happy to move off of it.

The left was a little tougher both in shoulder-in and haunches in. Mostly because of Ramone's complaints about what a demanding bitch I was being. He had already done dressage for sooo long and I wasn't letting up and my legs are like long monster legs. Poor baby dinosaur.

Tell me this horse doesn't belong in the dressage ring! He would
prefer not though... 

I attempted half pass but uh, it didn't go so well. But Ramone can leg yield like a bad ass. We got a little confused again by my crookedness (and I saw the chiro on Wednesday night and I was all fucked up, so that's my fault) but we figured it out and got some good leg yields and one super drunk zig zag because Ramone thought he had finally figured out how to interpret my weird aids and was hell bent on going left!

After that we did a trot lengthening and hot damn can he move. L walked me through her aids for that since he tends to want to break to canter. I rode them a little conservatively so that we could get good rhythm and not risk a break (he was tired by this point).

One of the awesome things about Ramone that goes against a lot of hunter -> dressage stereotypes is that he does counter canter, so I got to play with that. I asked whether I could just pick up the wrong lead or if I should do loops. L said either. I opted against loops because I'm a lazy person and there were people to ride around. So I just picked up the counter canter on a 20m circle and tortured him with my endless counter canter exercise.

At first he was game but then he realized what I was doing to him and we had a couple of breaks to the right (on left lead) and a couple of really smooth lead change to the left (on right lead). Eventually he just sighed and accepted his fate. I think I solidified myself as Worst Human Ever in Ramone's mind after that.

One of the few cantering shots that isn't so blurry lol

We let him be done after that! When I got off he seemed like he didn't hate me soooo much. But he also may have just been really happy that I was on the ground vs on his back.

When I grabbed my saddle off of him, I saw something that irritated me but also always makes me laugh. I put so much pressure on my left seat bone throughout the ride that I had made a divot on my saddle's seat on the left side, while the right side was completely smooth. I called L over and we had a good laugh. But it explained some of the issues I had on him to the right but why I found the lateral work that way easier. Poor Ramone!

The chiro straightened me out on Wednesday (and I have follow up appointments on Monday/Wednesday) so tonight when I ride BFF, hopefully I can sit on my right seatbone without causing sciatica (which is why I tip off of it). Yay SI problems!

The (Tentative) Plan

I've been writing posts like these every few weeks since this whole saga started. I figured I'd post one so that I could shut up about it. I want to share some of the plans I've been making for when TC comes back.

One of my main goals is obviously for TC to not go lame again. I think the subgoals of this will be the following-

1. Keep TC sane enough where I can properly rehab and ride him without having to:
 - longe him (too often)
 - spin him in a circle or stop him hard on the front legs
2. Keep the ligament as happy as possible.
3. Get TC as physically strong as I can while keeping in mind 1 and 2.

Seriously can't wait to see this perspective again, getting so
impatient about this. I think I'm going to cry when I get on him the
first time, possibly due to fear lol

Here are some of the things I'm going to look into implementing:

Good Drugs
Okay only one of the things he's going on is an actual drug. Because I pushed showing out, I want to give him a boost on his long term tranq. It lasts 3 months and then slowly fades away, so it won't be like I wake up with a monster horse one day. If he isn't going strong by 3 months, I might even do another one.

I'm also going to put him on magnesium for his little hippo brain to focus a bit better. Hopefully that will help knock the edge off. For our first few rides back (at least), I'm also going to try something like perfect prep or smartcalm. Just again to take the edge off. The first rides are going to be crucial in my own confidence with handling this and in keeping his ligament safe from himself. He clearly cannot be trusted with ligaments.

Feel free to judge me on this, but I care more about my and my horse's health/safety than anyone's opinions on drugging horses for rehab. I'm not using ace or anything, but I fucking would. Another six months of not using my heater, only eating things that are on sale, and saying no to every fun friend thing that costs money so that I can pay for vet bills + rehab sounds like shit.


Wrapping
He's getting wrapped overnight now so I think I'm going to see if the barn hands are willing to unwrap him in the mornings. Gotta see about cost on that too. I'll be out there most afternoons so after rides, he will get wrapped and then someone else can take his wraps off. On the days I don't ride, he won't get wrapped, but I think that's okay. I'm hoping we can go sans-wraps after about a month or two.

This trot and this connection is magic

Two Things a Day
I want TC ideally to be turned out every morning and then either get a ride, a hand walk, or a hot walker session in the afternoons. Although sometimes they could be switched since I think Saturday morning will be my ride time. This is going to be dependent on cost, but doing two things a day for him will be good for his mental state- he is a busy horse who needs to do stuff, lest he save his energy to torment me. It will also be good for him physically- the worst thing for his leg would be to stand still for 23 hours a day, then get ridden on it.

I think turnout will come later unless there's a small enough paddock for him and they let me wire it all in so he can't climb. So at first he'll be maybe getting hand walked or put on the hot walker, I want to see what each costs and how he handles each. I'd rather have him sit in his stall than get loose or start freaking out on the walker.


Back on Track
I'm hoping to try to use my not-yet-used back on track quick wraps on TC while I tack him up and while I untack him every day, time permitting. I used them on Rico once (overnight) and they blew his leg up, so I didn't want to use them anymore because they made me feel paranoid. This time though, while I'm still very paranoid, I want to give it a good shot. I think using them to get the blood flowing down to his tendons as we brush and tack up will be great so that if we do have an explosion before he's properly warmed up, at least his suspensory isn't cold.

He gets so brown in the summer

Walking
TC is fairly good about walking around the property of places even when he's going to be an ass in the arena. I've also read that working on hard ground is good for tendons, ligaments, and bones. I'm not brave enough to do trot sets on hard ground, and actually with TC's propensity to develop sidebone, I will be avoiding that. But we'll be doing as much walking around the ranch as we can (weather and time permitting).


Footing
The barn has great footing, though sometimes a little hard in the covered arena. I want to keep TC on the best footing as possible until I'm forced into the covered for the winter. Hopefully by then I'll have a little more flexibility in my schedule by moving closer (the barn has a shower!) so I can ride early some days right after the arena is dragged. We'll see. But by the time winter hits, his leg should be okay.

Such a pretty pony

Trimming
Keeping TC's feet trimmed is going to be super important, so I'm willing to do it as often as every 3 weeks I think. Right now he's happily being trimmed at 4 weeks but I'll be keeping an eye on that. The shorter we can get his toes, the better for his suspensory since long toes = more strain on the suspensory. He already has low-ish heels, so I'll be talking to my farrier about what to do about it. I'm thinking about a hoof supplement, but I want to hold off and see how much money this horse is going to cost me in lessons.


Lessons
Yep, the most important thing. BRH trainer is going to be my trainer for a while. My main goal is to gain confidence with handling TC and to get TC exposure to everything he will come up against just by being a riding horse again and at this facility. This means that I won't stop lessons with BRH trainer until I feel like I can handle basically everything he throws at me without it ruining my day.

At first lessons will just be courses on survival. Get on, don't fall off, don't get scared, just ride. Eventually I want BRH trainer to help me with TC's herd bound behavior and his spookiness, but at first it will be making sure that we are safe around the ranch, safe in all four rings, and that I can actually work on riding TC properly at all three gaits. I don't mind having to work around his herd bound issues or his spookiness at first, as long as I feel safe.

Cannot wait to have this back

So there's the plan! Now I just need to bring a happy and healthy horse home and hope that this works. Come on TC, at least give me a good summer. This year has been brutal so far. Tomorrow I see him again and after that, five more visits!

A Closer Look: Fourth Level

I have a love-hate relationship with Fourth level, as I'm sure a lot of people do.

On one hand, I feel like Fourth is really cool-  you start a lot of really cool upper level movements like pirouettes and tempis. But on the other hand... Fourth 3. Fuck that test.

Finally, Rico and I looking like we can actually dressage together
That is the difference a good trainer and cognitive restructuring makes

Purpose of the Levels

To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and has developed sufficient suppleness, impulsion and throughness to perform the Fourth Level tests which have a medium degree of difficulty. The horse remains reliably on the bit, showing a clear uphill balance and lightness as a result of improved engagement and collection. The movements are performed with greater straightness, energy, and cadence than at Third Level. 

Once again we see the test designers just saying more-more-more. With Fourth being the last USDF tests before the FEI levels, we really get to see some of what is going to show up at Prix St George, as well as some hints at the other FEI tests as well.

Very expressive tempis at 4-2

Fourth 1

I like this test a lot. It's a tough test, don't get me wrong, and it shouldn't necessarily be taken lightly. But let's be honest, it's a Third level test with a couple of things that hint at Fourth level. That being said, now that the 2015 tests are being used, they've made 4-2 easier, so the tests seem to flow better vs the huge step from 4-1 to 4-2 and 4-2 to 4-3 or PSG.

This is the first time you canter up centerline, yay! Don't ask me how many times I've entered at the trot while practicing AND competing this test. The first medium includes 6-7 steps of collected trot over X, which poses a challenge for horses who have learned to just go go go across the diagonal, and also for riders who can't remember to do this damn movement. I've gone off course more often in this test than any other test.

The trot pattern feels like an FEI test, with a half pass to 10m circle to shoulder-in right up centerline. I like that they throw this at you so early, since the second two tests are so canter focused. The extended walk is on a half circle, which is weird, but makes sense I guess because the walk pirouettes (which have evolved out of the turns on the haunches like a pokemon) need to be right near the judge.

4-1 on Rico before Tracey told me to put my hands down

Immediately out of the second walk pirouette, less than 5 meters later, you pick up the canter from the walk on a straight line with no rail to help you, right in front of the judge. You also get an additional score for your, now, collected walk that is maintained throughout your walk work.

The canter pattern is fun, you immediately do a medium canter from turning onto the rail after your transition, then come up centerline to do the same pattern as 3-2, except with a steeper half pass and the necessity to wait until the corner to change. This is great, you now have to do the change AT a letter rather than "around" a letter or between letters. You also now have a 20m circle with 5-6 strides of "very collected canter" over centerline in hopes to set you up for pirouettes.

Then you have the beginning of your tempis- three flying changes, one each near both quarterlines and one near centerline. I love this, it prepares you so well for multiple changes along the diagonal without making you count. Excellent. One should do this a long time before counting IMO.

Coefficients are that first medium-collect-medium, the extended walk, both walk pirouettes, and the school canter. A nice test that most Third level horses should be capable of performing so their riders can grab a couple scores for their Silver.

Hey I still tip off my right seat bone

Fourth 2

I think the old jump from 4-1 to 4-2 was harder. As someone teaching students through the levels, I like this test. As someone looking back on this test, it annoys me. So many people skip 4-3 that you're going to see people doing their first canter pirouettes in the ring at Prix St George. No. Bad. If I had my way, I'd put the working pirouettes back in this test, dump the weird quarter pirouette into 4-1, and put the school canter in 3-3. But I'm not in charge.

This test has a fun movement that I liked. You ride your shoulder-in down the longside right from centerline and then do your medium on the short diagonal out of the shoulder-in. I liked it mostly because Rico's mediums were crap at the time and it was nice to have less ground to cover. But it sets you up really well and how smooth you can get the pattern is a good test for whether the shoulder-in is correct and doing its job. You get your first counter change of hand (zig zag) at the trot here too, which I think is a great place for it.

Medium trot at 4-2

You also get your first counter change of hand at the canter, but it's scored in individual movements, meaning that you can have one piece of it be off and not have it affect your score sooo much. This movement pops up at 4-3 and PSG (literally the same movement) but in 4-2 it is situated so that you only have one change (vs two). I like that they're being nice, but as you'll read below, I think it's dumb that 4-3 and PSG literally have the same movement, so I'd put this movement in 4-3 if I were to redesign the tests. But again, not my job.

You do this odd canter pirouette pattern here, where you do slightly more than a quarter working pirouette on centerline. I think it's a good movement, but like I said, it should be in 4-1. You also get 4-tempis here, and just three of them. This is a good thing, just as many changes as 4-1 but with a count this time. Although 4-tempis are the hardest IMO (behind ones).

Coefficients are the extended walk, both walk pirouettes, both canter pirouette things, and the 4-tempis.

After the first halt

Fourth 3

Fuck this test. I hate that I even have to acknowledge its existence and I hate that I have to look at it. But actually, when you really break it down, there's only a couple of things that I really hate about it. Most of my complaints are that the test is too similar to PSG to be useful for most riders, but again because they took the harder movements out of 4-2, they really don't give people a good stepping stone to the FEI levels, just a diving board and the hopes that the waters below are not shark infested.

After your typical centerline to medium trot, the first trot pattern is riding shoulder-in up centerline and then half passing to the rail. That's great, I like having to transition from one to the other without a circle. The next interesting movement, I hate. You halt, rein back 4 steps, walk forward 4 steps, rein back 4 steps, and trot off. There's just no reason for this stupid movement. NO REASON. It encourages horses to get behind the leg, and nothing like it shows up ever again. No.

The best horse

There are no walk pirouettes, no complaints, you have plenty of them throughout the tests. The canter work is dumb. It starts with a half 10m circle in true canter and a half 10m canter in counter canter, then a flying change on the long side and immediately repeat the pattern the other way. At what point are you EVER prepared for this in the lower levels? Never. At what point do you NEED something like this at the upper levels? Never! You could argue that it preps you for PSG because you do counter canter there, but that is only a quarter of a 10m circle that most people cut anyway. No point to this. None.

They throw the medium canter across the diagonal ending with collection and a flying change before the corner letter, which I like. You do that in PSG. They also give you the counter change of hand from the PSG test too. They stole the pirouette pattern from the old 4-2, which is dumb, because it makes that part, and only that part, easier than PSG. Then you do both 4-tempis and 3-tempis... which you also do in PSG (but at 4-3 you only do 3 changes rather than 5 at PSG).

So basically, this test is as hard or harder than PSG in most aspects, EXCEPT for the canter pirouettes. Dumb.

Coefficients are the dumb rein back pattern, the extended walk, the dumb counter canter patterns, both working canter pirouettes, and the 3-tempis.

Shoulder-in up centerline at 4-1

Overall

Fourth is a good level (except Fourth 3). It introduces canter pirouettes, tempis, and the zig zag as best as it can- because those three movements are extremely tricky.

Looking back to Third, you've come a long way if you can get through that Fourth 3 test, but even if you skip it. Everything at Third set you up really nicely for the big three canter movements, and you were challenged with trickier trot patterns too. Looking at Prix St George, we're adding more changes in the tempis (5 vs 3), tightening up the working half canter pirouettes into real half canter pirouettes, and the trot work tightens up the 10m circles into voltes. But we'll have to wait to discuss that later!

Just four more of these things to go (I'm giving each FEI test their own post to drag this out!). They've been fun to write and hear what everyone else thinks of these tests.

Six More Visits

Saturday morning I got up super early to drive out to see TC. Then drove down to see Rico, then drove an hour and a half north (west, not east where I live) to a friends' surprise party (IT WAS AMAZING, we surprised her TWICE), stayed overnight, then drove an hour down to teach a lesson and an hour back home. Whyyyy.

Because I like ponies. And my friends.

My pony was happy to see me. But he was very enthused to see carrots. I think when he comes home, I'm going to keep a shocking amount of carrots in my trunk/locker/whatever I have. The horse LIVES for carrots. He kind of reluctantly eats the apple I insist on bringing him each time, but carrots? Yes, we love carrots.

I think he's looking pretty good for a horse who hasn't been ridden
since early December... 

He was sort of mugging me for them so I dumped a bunch on his hay pile so I could talk to the owners of the place.

TC is off his bute now (phew) and his leg is looking okay. He has some antibiotic cream on his leg during the day since there are some rubs. The owners think that when my vet shaved his leg again, the leg got irritated with the wraps. I dunno, I figured that he's not trotting until after the next ultrasound, so I'll have my vet look at the branches as well as the origin site and see whether something did happen. As it stands, all he's doing is walking and swimming (he's up to 3-5 laps per day! And apparently he now tries to trot into the swimming pool), so he should be fine.

Happy pony

I swear I see some swelling up near the origin site. Not sure if that is the adherence or that he still has residual stuff there. I really hope it isn't acute. Honestly I'd hate to have his leg be slightly thickened for the rest of his life, but I'd hate it even more if it wasn't healed and we needed to do even more rehab. So let's hope that it's just a bit of thickness that will be there forever. Ugh, I hate this so much.

Riot has an old check ligament injury (from before we owned him) that has some residual thickness, and even though he was super lame the other day (bruised sole thank god because his leg swelled and everyone thought he had a ST injury, but my magic vet looked at him and said no), he's been totally sound on it. And he gallops around in a pasture with holes and rocks in it.

D'aww so cute

TC is shedding like crazy. CRAZY. I curried him all over and that's when he started standing quietly and not mugging me or the bag of carrots. He really enjoyed his curry and even after that was in a much better mood about paying attention and being polite. I think he misses his pasture and paddock where he had dirt that he could itch himself in. Now he's got soft and fluffy shavings, and while they're a great bed, he can't be itched. He does get brushed by them every day, but they skip the days that I'm there (I love that they do that).

After his curry and brushing session, I taught him the word "stand." It drives me nuts that he won't let me take a picture of his whole body, and I also love that Rico, when not being an ass, will freeze all four legs if you yell "stand." That button is now sticky on Rico, I think it's broken beyond repair.

He bugs his eyes out whenever he smiles, weirdo

When TC is asked to do things, he always runs through all the things that he thinks have resulted in carrots before before he actually listens to my words. So when I told him to stand and backed away to see if he would stay, he stepped toward me, put his head to the side (I think it's cute so he sometimes gets carrots for just being cute), smiled, turned his head like he was doing carrot stretches, put his head on the ground, reined back. Basically everything but standing.

So we did it again and again. His brain was on overdrive, eventually pawing and getting slightly frustrated. But then he finally stood (got distracted) and got a carrot.

Twice more and then he was an EXPERT at standing. Any time I'd say stand and back away, he'd just stay there like he was Rico. I think I'm going to love his busy brain eventually, and it is cool that he learns things so fast (yet stays very willing), but if he wanted to slow his brain down a bit until he becomes more broke, that'd be awesome.

STAND damnit

It was great to see him, but as always I leave with this feeling of frustration that I don't usually feel throughout the week. His leg is not healing perfectly, it will never be completely back to normal. Our next steps seem to be slowly putting him back to work and seeing if that not-quite-normal suspensory will hold up. My vet seems to think it will. It's not like TC is going to be a jumper or an eventer. He's going to be in good footing with boring flat riding for at least the next few years (depending on how long I keep him).

But it's still stressful to think about what is going on in that leg, and seeing that thickness was a huge reminder that when he comes back, I can't just forget that the last six months didn't happen. This isn't like taking a winter off and then redoing last fall when the weather is better. Yet again I'm stuck being extra careful with a horse, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to be as careful with him as I was with Rico. That in itself is stressful! I'll always be worried about doing hill work, I'll always be worried about jumping, I'll always be obsessive about footing. And that's if he even stays sound on it.

But not all is lost even if he can't stay sound on it, there ARE options if he proves that he won't ever come back. He'll be happy. I really hope I never have to share what those plans are on this blog.

Six (ish- exact date not chosen yet) more visits until our next, and hopefully final, ultrasound.

A Closer Look: Third Level

Third level is probably one of my favorite levels, and is the next edition of this series. Yay flying changes! Yay half pass! Yay double bridle! Except that for some reason I can't find many pictures of me showing Third in the double, most of these pictures came from the two shows I showed in my snaffle, wtf.

Purpose of the Levels

To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having begun to develop an uphill balance at Second Level, now demonstrates increased engagement, especially in the extended gaits. Transitions between collected, medium, and extended gaits should be well defined  and performed with engagement. These should be reliably on the bit and show a greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, thoroughness, balance, and self carriage than at Second Level.

These things are getting long! I think Third and Fourth level are about perfecting the things we've worked on previously- the impulsion from First level, the collection from Second. Putting those together to improve the engagement and the rest of that long list from Third. I feel like after the Second level purpose, Third and Fourth could just say "yah all that but MORE."

Warming up for third level

Third 1

Love this test. It's so friendly and warm. If it were a person I'd totally invite it to tea on a rainy day.

It's one of the few tests since First level that doesn't ask for a medium right off the bat. It's the return of the First level ice cream cones, but with shoulder-in and half pass. The thing I always see with this movement is people starting the shoulder-in too early. You have to go straight down the long side and develop it from straightness rather than in Second when you can develop it from the corner.

The trot half pass is quite shallow and friendly and has some wiggle room if you were to make your half circle a little more oval-y so you can get into the corner if angle is your problem. It can be a bit too long for a schooled horse, but again you can end your shoulder-in slightly early, make your half circle shallow, and get to the rail a touch early if you so choose.

Coming up centerline

You almost always start with medium paces (vs extended paces) when you have tests doing a medium and extension. I spoke about this before, but I recommend (unless you have a spectacular medium AND extension) just going for it in your first medium like it's an extension. Better to get an 8 on that and then a 7 when you perform the same thing as an extension rather than hold back for the medium and get a 6 with "not enough shown" and then a 7 on the extension.

The canter work is really kind. You start with a medium canter to get the horse energized, then you get a 10m circle to get your horse set up well for the change that occurs in the second half of the short diagonal you're asked to ride. Then you can hop and poke and wiggle and fix your shitty change with plenty of room before your extension. Same pattern the other way, with a trot transition at C. This pattern is a breath of fresh air from your crazy long Second level patterns. Phew.

You get your first taste of two scores for your extensions at this test- with the last extension both being judged on the quality of the extension (10 points) AND the quality of the transitions (10 points), get used to that shit.

Coefficients are the extended walk and both turns on the haunches. Pretty kind of them to not make a big deal out of the new movements like they loved to do at Second.

Ah yes, the realization that not riding with the right trainer and
not focusing on the basics = shitty half pass

Third 2

Ah Third 2, the return of the shoulder-in to renvers (which used to be at Second). I think that's an appropriate place for this movement, although I still personally introduce it at Second. After you go through what feels like a test's worth of trot work, you have to ride half passes from centerline to the rail. They are steeper than Third 1, but there is a lot of room to fuck it up if you want to, since they have you hit the rail at E and then sit around on the rail until you turn down the short side.

The canter gets a bit complicated as you pick up the canter in the corner from the walk, then immediately turn up centerline and at D start your half pass. You literally get a 10m half circle in canter to prepare for this. Hopefully by Third though, these quick movements are not a big deal.

Medium trot... ish, that saddle pad was just the worst

It's a nice long half pass to R and then you can change anywhere from R to M. The change from the counter canter and in such a tight spot (before you ruin your corner) is tough, but you're looking at riding your first tempis in just a couple of tests, so this is a good time to put the pressure on you. Plus you don't need to do the change AT a letter yet, so that's nice, and you could ride a steeper half pass if you wanted to give yourself more room to set up.

You also get a clear release of both reins at this test. They used to have a movement at 3-1 where you released one rein (and it was the rein that I liked releasing on Rico so yay). This movement is nice because it tests the self carriage, although it seems super random to me because after this test, you never do this again. But sure, throw that in.

You get to canter up centerline (then trot, then halt) to end, which I think sets you up really nicely for Fourth level where you have to canter up in the beginning. The entrance to the Fourth + tests can be kind of difficult, halting from the canter on a straight line is hard.

Coefficients are both renvers, the extended trot (but not the transitions), the extended walk, both flying changes, the release of both reins, and the extended canter. Damn. That's a lot of coefficients!

Ah shoulder-in with head tilting, can't wait til the fourth level
post when we actually got good- but damn what a difference the
right trainer makes

Third 3

Not going to lie, this test is beefy. It sets you up so nicely for Fourth 1 though, so no complaints here.

The trot pattern mimics the 2-2 pattern, shoulder-in to two half circles across the middle of the ring, to half pass. This time there is no wiggle room on your half pass, you have to get there by G and if you don't the judge will for sure notice. I recommend riding this pattern a million times, it's easy to make it look kind of blocky if you only ride the elements. My student doing it currently warms up with a 10m figure 8 first, then starts riding the pattern about 3-4 times each way when she works on it.

This test is the first one that you trot out of your rein back. Ideally this should be two beats from coming in in trot, to your halt, then rein back (2 beats) and trotting out. Though most people have to walk out of the rein back and then trot.

You get more time to prepare for your first canter half pass, though it is steeper (but again you have wiggle room) and you end on centerline, then turn the direction you're going. Immediately across the shorter diagonal and flying change. I like this pattern, although it's hard to hide a late-behind change since your butt is in the judge's face. I like that it sets you up well for having to ride straight after a half pass to centerline.

There's only one extended canter in this test, so that's kind of them, unless that's your strength, if so, sorry!

Coefficents are both trot half passes, the halt and rein back, the extended walk, both canter half passes, and both flying changes. They REALLY want you to understand how important half pass is, keep that in mind.

Tilting again (blurry but yay training problems don't go away)

Overall

Third is one of my favorite levels for a reason. I like how these tests are put together, I think they provide a lot of good stepping stones between Second level and Fourth level. First, you can see how the flying changes were developed starting even at Training level with the downward transition from canter across the diagonal. First level shortened the time between transitions, building up to a trot change. And Second level introduced simple changes and counter canter- two very important elements to the flying change. Third gave you three solid tests with simple patterns that prepare you really well for both zig zags and tempis, which you see at Fourth level.

The nice thing is that from here on out, you've now learned all the trot work. No more movements in trot (unless you count pi/pa, which you should not because they are different gaits). They just get harder with counter changes of hand and voltes.

Onto Fourth level! This time without the head tilt

Driving in the Rain

On Friday it was raining but I still made it out to see TC before zipping down to my parents' place for the first of three consecutive birthday weekends. That made Friday's mileage 175 miles on the nose, would have been more but I stayed overnight at my parents' because driving over 200 miles in a day sounded terrible, especially because that would have brought Saturday's miles to almost 190 vs only 125! Sunday was just over 100.

I drive too much.

Why does everyone I love live so far away and in so many different directions? I can't wait until October when I can move at least in line with one of my many long commutes.

I heard on the previous Sunday that TC's leg looked better after giving me a heart attack on Saturday morning, but didn't hear about it all week. I assumed no news was good news but still got desperate on Thursday morning to find out whether he was doing better. The owners said they were keeping him wrapped all the time and that it was looking really good, but that he was still on bute for it. Ugh, TC seems fine, but after my own problems with NSAIDs that have lead to stomach issues, I'm concerned for him like a parent who gets cold and wants their kid to put on a jacket.

His mane is getting long

I got out there late because of traffic and unfortunately the owner had to leave earlier than normal so I only had about fifteen minutes with him. Nothing like just under 2 hours of driving to see your horse for fifteen minutes before hopping back in the car for 3 more, but that's what happens sometimes and at least I get to see him every week.

Every time I see him, TC manages to remind me how much I like him. He's so sweet, and now that he's working more and shedding out his coat, he's looking really gorgeous. As beautiful as a weird/random friesian x oldenburg cross with no topline can look. His coat is shiny and he's actually looking like a gray horse rather than a black horse who has aged terribly.

I gave him a hug, which he seems to really enjoy, he puts his neck up high to let me come at him, then puts his head down and occasionally puts his nose on my back. So cute! I think just any attention this horse gets, he considers good attention. I also kissed his nose, which I normally can't do because he gets distracted, but he started wiggling his nose and smiling so he got carrots for that. So damn cute, I don't care if it looks like he might bite my face.

GIVE ME CARROTS

The owner had sent me pictures of his leg earlier in the day before he got wrapped and it looked normal. She told me that she thought it was cellulitis due to the wraps. I was skeptical, but it makes the most sense given that it'd be really hard for him to even smack it hard enough to get a swelling like that. I've only dealt with cellulitis once with Rico and much prefer that to a second suspensory injury lower down.

I told her to do whatever she wanted to it and she said he might go on antibiotics if it blows up again. For now a gram of bute a day (which again I was skeptical about because they seem a bit bute-happy there. In the long run it won't kill him though, he's young and has had no stomach issues thus far) and only wrapping overnight.

Afterward, I got back in the car and drove the 3 hours down to my parents' place for my mom's birthday dinner, the rain slowing the already slow traffic down to a standstill at places.

He is so cute

Fortunately for Rico, on Saturday morning it was raining enough where I hunkered down in my parents' house with the rest of my family and just watched the three horses play in the rain. Riot got a bit bold and BIT Rico on the butt, which I've never seen happen! I think Rico was as shocked as we were, since he didn't do anything about it. He really doesn't kick out, so he just kind of hopped away and spun around to rear at Riot, who reared back. They're so cute together.

I would have loved to ride though! But I rode a client's horse on Sunday so I didn't have to go more than a week without riding. Can't wait til the baby horse is back in business! Only six or seven more visits until the next, and hopefully final, ultrasound.