Playing at Liberty

On Sunday, TC was being a Very Good Boy (TM), but then he couldn't take it anymore and jumped into the air and pounced on his own shadow. I took that as a sign to get off the pony ride and turn him out in the ring to run. 

I'm getting a bit smarter in my not-quite-old age and sure enough, he absolutely needed a turnout. 

Please excuse how dirty he is, it is a sign that he
is living his best life (right??? lol)

It was pretty cool though. In the (distant) past, his turnouts were just him galloping around like mad, shrieking and generally making himself crazier and crazier until I catch him and bring him inside. Because of that, I haven't done too much turnout at the ranch arena because I don't want him chewing up the footing and getting himself worked up too much. If he wants to run, he has a half acre to do so in, preferably when I'm not watching. 

But this time, I just let him go because 1) the longe line that lives at the arena got wet and it's really unpleasant feeling and smelling, I'm going to order a new one and get a waterproof box to keep it in and 2) I wanted to stand around instead of having to parallel longe him because I was tired and had my tall boots on (which are hard to walk in). 

First step: roll a lot with a deranged look on your
face lol

Sometimes you just need to get into a fight with
your own tail

He rolled twice, once on each side, then stood there staring at me. I kind of gestured toward him and he rocked back on his hindquarters and galloped off bucking. It's so funny to watch him buck because it looks like he's trying to pick a fight with his tail and his tail is winning. 

There was so much more relaxation in his gallop than I've ever seen before. He seemed to effortlessly transition between and within gaits. He had so much body control. 

It was a lot more like the turnout he had after he got worked on by my bodyworker clinician, like he was seeing what his body could do vs just making himself crazy. He was really quite beautiful, despite being completely covered in sand and mud. 

This is how he starts galloping

Then he does this

After he was done, he came in to me and wanted to play. He played with my whip a bunch and then offered me his jambette work. I've been teaching him to do it for shoulder mobility and he's also just super into pawing. He is getting closer to being able to hold his right front leg straight out horizontal. It's straight out but it's a bit low. His left front he lifts really high but his knee is bent. I started to work on target training him to get his cannon bone to touch the handle of my whip, which he figured out on the right front but not on the left. 

He then rolled again and watched me while I filled in some of his divots. And then we went back to the barn (where I washed his tail, his tail needs like 5+ shampoos to get back to anything but brown, the water was so dark when I rinsed it lol). 

Wasn't paying attention to where he was going so
he ended up in the sand pile with my niece's toys

It was super cool to see all the different shapes he made with his body. He seems more comfortable in it every week as we work on all this new stuff. 

I'm probably going to add a liberty day here and there to work on his jambette and let him play on his own. I think he really enjoys it and it's no longer stressful to watch him run around now that he has so much body control!

Pasture Turnout

So there's a really nice bit of pasture at the ranch that isn't being used by any of the horses. Riot has the upper pasture, Rico has the middle pasture, and Sunny has the lower pasture. 

Rico and Riot are big horses who eat a lot of grass, but Sunny is an air fern who seems to gain weight if you spritz him with too much water or if he SEES too much grass. So the lower lower pasture is way too rich for him and therefore he got his pasture cut in half and there's now just this beautiful pasture that no horse gets to enjoy due to how they're set up living-wise. 

TC is in the stall further than Riot's, so he doesn't have direct access to the lower lower pasture (and he shouldn't have access as he is used to eating hay, not grass), but I figured I could use it as a turnout after rides while I did barn chores and worked. 

Desperately needs a bath and a trim, but happy!

Now, TC has not been in a real pasture in a long time, but he's so chill there and also so desperate to eat grass that I figured he'd be fine. And I was right! He quietly walked around out there grazing for his hour. No antics, no testing the fence (it's just cable), nothing exciting. 

His facial expression was adorable though, and it just made me so happy that he loved it so much. I know it's just because of the food because he really didn't explore at all. But still, the option was there for him to wander about and I'm sure as the grass dies, he'll do that. 

Happy pony!

The next day, I asked my dad if it was okay to turn Riot out there too! Riot and Rico used to go out together but as Rico has gotten older, he has gotten more nervous about other horses and apparently Riot started to bother him too much. Riot is just friendly but Rico now prefers his friends to be on the other sides of fences. Sunny is an absolute brat to other horses (for really no reason, wtf) and can't be friends with anyone, so Riot is now on his own. 

Riot and TC hang out all the time since they live next to each other, they walk out together (and TC watches Riot go out in his pasture) and they walk in together. They play bitey-face together. You know, horse things. They're also just so sweet, I've never seen either of them pin their ears or kick at another horse. So I figured they'd like to be big dorks in the lower lower pasture together. 

TC has not been turned out with another horse since he was a baby. I feel so bad that one day in 2015 I took him away from his roommates and he never got to live with another horse again. That's just horses in the bay area. Good pastures with good footing and good fencing at good facilities are few and far between. So I was SO excited to give him a friend for his pasture turnout time. 

Not sure how big the pasture is but it's much bigger
than any paddock he's lived in

I came armed with a clicker and cookies to catch TC if anything went wrong. I put TC out first and he started grazing, then I went to get Riot. I had this big grin on my face as I brought Riot in because I thought TC was going to get so excited to have a friend and there'd be this big joyful reunion or lots of playing or something. 

Obviously nothing happened. 

Seriously, I put Riot in there and he was the one who was excited to see TC. TC just kept eating. Riot walked over and they sniffed noses and then Riot just walked away. 

He went to check on TC a few times but TC just couldn't get over the fact that he was in a green pasture eating green grass to give two fucks about the fact that he was turned out with another horse for the first time in almost six years. 

So cute together

Since then, I've either put them both out together or just TC out on his own for an hour or an hour and a half each day after riding. He just loves it. 

Hopefully we can continue doing the pasture turnout for the duration that we're at the ranch! It makes me happy to see him happy out there. And maybe at some point he'll hang out with Riot a bit more. 

WW: Playing in Turnout

A couple of weeks ago, it was too windy to ride, so I put the pivo in TC's turnout and videoed him/us and some of these blurry screenshots are so cute! I figured I'd share them today. 

Definitely not getting on that

He gets real low to the ground sometimes

I just love him

His topline is actually looking much better

What the actual fuck is this move?

This followed

Can I click for this behavior?

I think he's so cute when he lays down omg

Again, can I click for this?

I think he likes me

Should have clicked lol

Proof that he can tuck his butt quite well!

Highly recommend getting adorable pivo video of your horse in turnout and taking a bunch of screenshots!

Things Are Looking Up

I went to the doctor on Monday! I had previously only been to urgent care, so this was a regular  doctor visit. The purpose was primarily to get a note that said I could work from home while I recover, but also to check on the illness to see how it was progressing and ask a few more questions.

This was a new doctor and I got some questionable information... enough where I grabbed an appointment with someone else afterward. Essentially I was told I could go back to work now and could start riding and lifting whenever I felt like it, as mono is a self limiting virus and those aren't  contact sports. I mean, until I hit the ground from fatigue, right?

This is the only actual mono comic I've found

I mean, it's exactly what I wanted to hear, but after spending two full weeks feeling like crap and having to sit down half way through our brief conversation to rest... it didn't feel right to me. 

Doctor number two saw me after a poke lunch (yay, it was so good) and gave me much more normal information. I think I will keep this one. The good news is that I got the note, got HR's approval, and started working from home Tuesday, I plan on working as many 9-10 hour days as I can to make up hours from my two weeks off. 

The other good news is that I get to ride on June 4th! She said to wait a month after symptoms started (May 4th-ish, my first official sick day was May 6th but I felt like crap on the 4th and 5th) and then ease back into it. The biggest risk is my spleen rupturing if I were to fall. 

Not coming off if I'm sitting behind these perfect
brown ears!

I'm obviously being a little bit of an idiot about it, as I plan on sitting on Rico this weekend. That's just Rico though. Then the following weekend, I'll ride Sunny to see where my fitness is at before getting on TC. 

Speaking of TC, I went straight to the barn after the doctor's to see him! It was raining all weekend, so I stayed home and recovered from Friday's TC adventure. By Monday, I was feeling way better! Even after my doctor fiasco! I took TC out and we got to the turnout, I wasn't tired yet, but he was wild, so I put him in there and let him run around and buck a bit. I stood most of the time he was playing and then was still feeling good, so grabbed him and took him to the cross ties. I managed to curry him, brush  him, pick out his feet, and have a conversation with Kate before taking him home.

When I got home, I was feeling totally fine! I mean, walking up my stairs was still hard, I still felt nauseous, and I sat down all day Tuesday to recover, but it's really good progress toward being mostly human again. 

I'm hoping to be able to longe him this week when the round pen opens (we've gotten a crazy amount of rain for it being nearly June). Then the first week of June, I'll be back on him! That's like ten days away! 

The  most fun but also would rupture my spleen without really
understanding what he did

It's been nearly three weeks and I'm supposedly half way through being sick, but other than missing work, life is feeling more normal. It won't be totally normal until I can go back to work and crossfit, but riding is right around the corner and it's been nice to have something to do for 8 (err or 10) hours a day. I'm also pretty certain I could start doing easier body weight movements if I'm allowed to ride. 

This weekend should be fun even outside of sitting on Rico. I'm going to try to go to the little festival I always go to over memorial day weekend. I can normally do the whole thing in an hour, but I expect that I can't do an hour of walking straight with no breaks, so I expect to be sitting down a lot... I still want to go, as I think it will be a good test to see how much I can do in a day to see if I can start teaching again. 

Finally Visiting TC

I went to the barn on Friday! Then needed to sit at home both Saturday and Sunday to recover... But let's focus on the barn.

TC was stoked to see me and I felt the same way! I was able to brush him and pick out all his feet before needing to sit down in the car, which I thought was pretty good. It gave him time to finish his grain.

So cute, very dirty though

I wanted to get him out, so I took him on a walk and made it just past the turnouts before I had to sit down again. I was sitting there with him grazing next to me when I realized that the turnouts were open and I could just put him in one and then sit and watch him. So I did! And it was way better for both of us.

He wandered over to the horses who live next to the turnout and played with them a bit, then wandered all over the turnout. A horse got put next to him and TC quickly trotted over to say hi and was probably over enthusiastic. He galloped around a couple of times and trotted up and down next to the new horse, who wanted nothing to do with him. All while the other three just watched and begged him to come back. Just ridiculous.

Wanting to hang with this friend

It was so fun to see him play and so fun to be out at the barn, even if I spent most of the time sitting in the dirt watching him in turnout. We've had some rain, but I think when the turnout dries out again, I'll make this a regular occurrence until I can start long lining him. My plan is that as I get better, he will get in better shape with long lining and ground work. When I'm clear to ride, we'll both be hopefully equally as out of shape.

It seems silly, but again that day knocked me out for the rest of the weekend. My fever is gone, but my temperature is actually now abnormally low, which is not unusual for an infection. I'm still finding a way to worry about it though, don't worry. And I've been nauseous nonstop since Friday, so that's been fun. Yay the next month is going to be an absolute blast.

These friends aren't interesting

I go into the doctor today (and then I'm hoping the nausea goes away so I can grab poke from my favorite place on the way back) for a check up. I was diagnosed at urgent care and they can only give you a three day note for work. I need something longer. The other good news is that HR has not totally rejected my desire to work from home. So I am going to have the doctor write a note that details what I am allowed to do, which is probably just everything but go into the office.

Fingers crossed HR okays this and I don't have to deal with the loss of income from going on critical leave. My awesome boss found me a contract job through our professional organization though, so that's helpful regardless! I'm excited to have some work to do and hopefully it will feel like I just decided that I was going to work from home for a month... and not ride... hrm.

WW: Best Frands

I really want TC to be okay in turnout, but that suspensory is still nagging at me. On the one hand, he has a big space to live in and doesn't get hurt in there, what's a few more square feet and a different view? Also, do I really want to live in fear the rest of my time with him over an injury that now happened three years ago? On the other hand, do I really want to risk his soundness if he's fine where he's at?

I compromised by being a completely overbearing parent type and put him in the tiniest turnout with his halter on and with me sitting inside watching him like a hawk.

The minute he was in there, a friend came trotting up to him. He doesn't get to play as much as he'd like (because he'd play ALL THE TIME) so it was fun to see him interact with another horse like that. They were SO CUTE together. I grabbed some video -

Always pawing. Always. Every day.
All day long. With and without friends. 

Behold: his very ugly natural trot 

PLAY WITH M- oh look, mud

So cute

I think I'll be doing supervised turnout sessions on the weekends when I can. I think he's fine if he just plays around, but I do want to make sure that I'm there just in case he really panics and starts galloping. We have rain starting today so I think he'll be in for a few weeks at least. But it was so fun seeing him play a bit! 

TC's Terrible Weekend

TC had the worst weekend! On Saturday he got tormented by children, then he got a bath. Then Sunday we went to my parents' place on his first field trip since moving last month and everything was horrifying there.

Hi patience is the worst

Saturday

I set up my soloshot in the corner of the arena to grab some video. I haven't seen him go in a long time, and while he feels great, I'm sure there's a ton of stuff to address. There is, but I didn't get to see very much of it.

There was a group lesson going on at the end of the arena near the gate, so we stuck with the far end and went to work. Then the lesson horses all left. Poor TC was all alone. He was a little concerned. Soon the lesson horses came back into the arena. Mkay. TC was very excited. Then they all left again and TC was very concerned. They kept doing this... for my whole ride. I guess they were trail riding around the property? Then coming back in?

Medium trot developing pretty well though, I do
want more relaxation in it though, but legs are
matching and that's more than I could have said
last time I schooled it

TC got more and more upset, made worse by two horses in turnout playing near him. EVERYONE WAS HAVING SO MUCH FUN AND HE HAD TO WORK. He got super amped and would not calm down, but he only took off bucking once, so I'm counting this as a win.

After our very questionable ride, I further ruined TC's day by scrubbing him clean. He's been absolutely disgusting for so long, it was so nice to get him clean again. He smelled amazing.

I put him in turnout for the first time since he arrived there and he made a friend next door and they went trotting up and down together, playing bitey-face and squealing/striking at each other. I got some video that I'll post later! So cute! So his day wasn't all bad.

The one moment he enjoyed this weekend

Sunday

I have been trying to get a lesson with a new trainer for a while now. She does this thing every week where she like... doesn't work for two days in a row. What the hell, are you even a horse trainer if you don't work every day? I work every day! Granted I also work in an office. But Kate works every day and doesn't work in an office. Are we the crazy ones? Maybe we are... So yeah, she couldn't teach me last Monday and couldn't teach me this Sunday. So I remain on my own.

I figured that it'd still be a good idea to take advantage of the good weather and take TC somewhere. So off to my parents' ranch we went! It's about 25 minutes away from my barn, has good footing, doesn't require a ring fee, and I can use my soloshot there. When it works. Which it didn't feel like doing!

First, before I talk about how TC was, can we just remember that I trained Rico to Grand Prix in this TINY arena. It's the length of a short dressage court and only a bit wider. How the hell did I do that? That horse is a saint, an actual saint.

Okay, back to TC. Who is absolutely not a saint.

Being clean is the worst

I recently pressure washed my trailer, so it was looking beautiful as I loaded up my way-cleaner-than-he-was-a-week-ago horse into it.

When we arrived, I decided that since I had the whole day, I may as well do some patience training. So I left him in the trailer for a while and went in the house to pet the animals. Finally I got him out and took him on a walk. He seemed pleasantly curious and we walked down the road quite a lot.

Back at the trailer, I tied him up and again left him for a while. Then my dad started mowing the lawns and pastures, which TC thought was a horrible thing to do, so he freaked out at the trailer for a while and I again just ignored him while I petted Rico on the nose and told him how perfect he was.

This was as close as I could get him to tracking up, not bad but
he's also a horse that over tracks usually sooooo okay

Finally I thought it might be a good idea to get on him. It was not a good idea.

The ride started out with him walking around on tip toes while I tried to get on him without him immediately leaving. I finally hopped on and he wouldn't walk, so we trotted. Very fast. I had to do a couple of pulley rein stops because he was so frantic about... nothing.

He did give me some EXCELLENT canter work though. When he gets all balled up, it's so easy to ride. I really want to see what it looks like, because it feels good and I literally feel like he's a half halt away from a canter pirouette... but you know, it just seems like the wrong way to get this kind of work out of him.

Back in trot, he was way more relaxed and I should have just pet him and gotten off of him.

Just pet him and get off, Megan, just pet him and get off

I obviously did not. I guess I was greedy. But my mom also saw me riding (she said she was cringing the whole time, she said she knew I could handle it but "he's just SO BIG Megan") and offered to take video. Why get off when I have someone willing to take video?!

I got about two circles of okay work before I put him in canter and all the gunfire started next door. It'd be fine if 1) I had enough horse left to work him through it or 2) the gunfire was predictable so I could ride him through it for a bit, then stop the gunfire and praise him. But it went on for a long time.

So basically he's taking off with me and I can't stop him, but I know I need to get off. So I got him going slow enough to leap off of him and then we did some ground work and stood around while the gunfire kept going on. He did seem to calm down about it, and I had half a mind to get back on... but again it wasn't predictable.

Right before shit hit the fan, he looks good!

There it goes... poor pony was terrified of the gunfire 

We didn't end on a great note, he got back home and we were both kind of frazzled. But the weekend did clarify a few things for me.

1) I am still way too trusting of him
2) I am for sure buying a 2 year old next time so I can Amanda the hell out of it before I send it to a professional to start for me
3) TC still needs way more time before he's *always* trustworthy in new places
4) We are traveling every weekend that I can for the rest of his fucking life until I address it