Auditing the Bombproofing Clinic

On Sunday I got done with Rico and then had some things shift around where I suddenly had about an hour to kill.

I was really glad to have that, because at the neighbor arena where I rode TC for so long was an amazing clinic that I would have LOVED to take TC to: a bombproofing clinic.

Already pretty good at tarps

I got there late, not having planned on going necessarily, so I didn't see any of the instruction. But I saw enough to solidify my desire to get TC to one of these clinics within the next year. Based on their website, I assume the clinic started with going through every obstacle and teaching the people how to introduce their horses to it, since I saw some definite progressions people were using. Then it sounds like you can either go do the obstacles on your own, or you can stick with the instructors in a small group.

There were some normal things you'd expect- some ground poles and then some larger plastic piping that horses were walking over. And there were small raised bridges to walk over too. But the majority of the obstacles were pretty interesting.

There were two mattresses that were placed next to each other so that the corners were touching but nothing else. One mattress was a thin twin mattress and the other was a thick, possibly full sized mattress. People started by walking the horses over the corners that were touching so they had to walk over the mattresses without stepping on them. Then people would introduce first to the thinner mattress, then to the thick one. Some of the horses were SUPER disturbed by the feeling of the mattress and quickly zipped off of them. I bet it feels weird to them.

Behind the mattresses was a tarp. People were mostly just walking over it, but one rider had their horse turn in small circles on it, which made the tarp crinkle more. None of the horses seemed too disturbed by the tarp, in this crazy arena, it was definitely the tamest obstacle.

Along the rail there was two pieces of plywood that made a chute/short hallway of sorts. Both pieces had holes in them and at first I was confused, but then I saw the pool noodles on the ground next to them. That was the first exercise that I got the urge to make myself. Horses were walking through it with just one noodle in it and were doing exactly what TC might do (he doesn't mind pool noodles but small spaces...): scoot through it. Eventually all the horses in the group I was walking through were really good about it, and then people started reining back through them. Cool!

Kind of in the middle of the ring was... trash. Horses had to walk through plastic bottles and pool noodles and paper scraps and all sorts of things that made noise as you walked through. There was also a wood box that the horses walked through (stepped in, walked through, stepped out- it was about 8' long) too. I think there might have been something in it as well, but I couldn't quite see.

Can kind of see the random pile of trash in the middle of the ring

I wandered to the other side of the arena to get a better look at a few things. There was this barrel sitting upright with the top of it covered with a plywood disc. Attached to the disc was a pulley system that allowed you to pull the top of the barrel up from the back of your horse. Under the disc was a stuffed monkey covered in caution tape. That alone REALLY amused me. As did the one lady saying "a monkey in a barrel? What the fuck is THIS supposed to be equivalent to?"

I mean she had a point, lots of the obstacles were things you'd see on the trail- have to walk across a swamp (mattress), have to walk across a bridge (bridge platforms), have to walk over stuff (pile of trash + poles), have to open a gate, have to not be scared of noise/things coming at you, etc. The monkey just seemed hilarious in comparison. But as a person with a horse with a serious flight instinct though, I want monkeys to be able to leap out of barrels without him bolting. I don't care if that is not a situation he will ever be in, I want his brain to be able to handle a herd of monkeys leaping out of barrels all around him and advancing on his face and he needs to just stand still til I tell him we can leave.

WTF indeed

Next to the monkey was a pan of water. One horse was outright refusing to get in it and kept jumping over it. The lady was confused because she said her horse was totally fine with water. I could see Rico doing the same thing. Rico hates puddles and smaller things of water, but he'll go right into the cross country water at the horse park. TC loves water in general so would probably make a bee line for that pan of water.

Next to the water was what seemed to be the beginner station- just some plastic discs on the ground that you could get your horse to sniff/stand on, and some tires. But then someone came over and picked up a big water jug (lol I just thought it was water) and shook it over his horse- it was filled with rocks so it made noise. There was also a bag with cans that a woman picked up and was putting on her horse. Those are super easy/cheap to make so I'm definitely thinking about doing that for TC this summer...

Monkey on the right side of the screen

My favorite obstacle was on the other side of the arena. It was basically two barrels on their side with pvc pipes set up like a flintstone's car so it was pretty heavy and rolled when you pushed/pulled it. At first someone walked up and just kind of pushed at it from the saddle. Then another person walked her horse straight at the cart and had the horse push it forward with their chest. I think TC would be amazing at that seeing as he goes through anything and everything in his way.

Then someone went on the other side of it and grabbed the rope and started to haul it with their horse. When the horse realized that, he immediately took off. But the guy just held onto it and they went careening forward for a few steps before the guy stopped the horse and the horse calmed down. GOALS (for TC, Rico wouldn't care since he's a driving horse). TC and I are going to be dragging a lot of things this summer!

Rico is on the left side of the cart looking bored

I ended up having to take off before meeting anyone and demanding that they come back this summer asking questions. But the clinic gave me SO many good ideas for TC.

First, just being able to cope with things around him happening. I'm really bad about that too, and some of the riders were like me and got caught up in what their horses were doing. Others just ignored their horses and sat quietly while the horse did whatever. I want to be better at that, I want to BE man whose horse freaks about rolling cart while man doesn't let go.

So first of all, I think I need to employ BRH trainer to try to (lightly) spook/distract TC me with stuff while I'm riding. Maybe I can spook him while BRH trainer is riding him first.

Second, the obstacles were great. I think I need to think about what obstacles would get TC bolty and do those at home as much as possible. Dragging things is huge, since he hasn't done that. I think getting him in tight spaces- like with the pool noodles- and having things pop out of him- like frightening monkeys- would do it too.

Totally okay with flags though

On the way out I called my mom to tell her about it, since she might have wanted to go watch. I told her that I wanted to take TC to it, but that I knew it'd be stressful so I sort of wanted to selfishly take Rico to it instead because it'd be more fun for me since he doesn't scare me or have a bolt/panic button. Obviously if I go (I want to find another one to audit again first so I can see the instruction) I'll be taking TC, but I kept seeing horses spook at stuff or refuse to do things and the only thing I could think the whole time was "Rico would do that obstacle."

She asked how much it was and I told her. Then she got to scheming. Her horse, Stretch, is going to be retired, probably this fall. He's 25 and isn't really able to do the amount of trail riding she wants to do. I've been pushing Rico on her, since Rico is perfect for what she wants to do- he is the same horse whether you ride him every day or every two months, he is extremely quiet (unlike Stretch who has a spin and bolt in him), and he isn't spooky at all.

But he makes my mom nervous because he's big and powerful (and she knew him in his younger years when he had a rearing problem). She also just doesn't know him. I know without a doubt how he will handle any situation. I know what he will spook at and how he will spook if he does spook at something.

She proposed that SHE take Rico to the clinic. Not for his benefit (although I think he'd love it), but for hers. She could experience how bold he is in a safe environment (in the arena vs in the open) and could learn what he does at the rare times that he does spook.

They are an awesome match!

I was STOKED about the idea. Having Rico there would be great for me and TC, since Rico could lead us through some of the exercises and I know that Rico wouldn't do anything if TC ran into him or freaked out next to him. And my mom could learn how solid Rico is and how he approaches things that do make him nervous, since I'm sure one of those things will make him nervous.

I'm so so excited, even if it's potentially a year away since some years they only come to this area once (although their mailing address is near by, wonder if my BO would want to host one this summer). I'm excited both for TC to experience something like this and for my mom to get more confident on Rico. And just to see Rico doing this stuff, see how all my own makeshift bomb proofing training paid off with him.

In the mean time, I may or may not be building some of these obstacles in my free time. I need my baby horse to get better first though, he's the king of unexpected vet bills that can ruin even the cheapest of projects.

Adventures at Dover

Saturday after visiting TC, I got home a little before noon. L had finished washing her flying pig and we headed out to lunch to have some amazing carne asada tacos. Our ultimate destination was the new Dover store, which has been open for quite a while now and is only about 20-30 minutes away from each of our houses. But, you know, we're adults who have self control... sort of.

Actually I was really good about my self control, as I was awaiting the possibility of TWO pricey vet bills (looks like I'm going to dodge the second one) and too many people have birthdays in March. But even just SEEING a Dover store was amazing. And you can't go in there without buying something, right? Even if it's a sticker. FYI all pictures taken by L because my phone was out of battery.

SO EXCITED FOR DOVER

Our main goal was to dress each other up as each other so we did that first. L picked out tailored sportsman breeches for me with a SIDE zip (never worn those), a really cute top that I totally would wear to work except that it wanted me to wear a sports bra, and an awesome jacket that felt real short since the last jacket I wore was my shad (damn lame pony!).

I've never worn side zip breeches, and that was an experience. Then I forgot to tuck in my shirt, for which George Morris would have sent me out of the ring. The shirt kind of choked me too. I said that George would have told me that I had a fat neck and needed to lose weight just in my neck. But everything came together real cute even if I can't model to save my life.

I am the most stylish hunter rider

GM would be proud

I really wanted to get L in a shadbelly, but I think I'll have to stick her in mine at some point. We couldn't find one that would fit her because all of them were huge. So I dressed her up as a non-FEI rider, boo.

But then I totally wanted to buy her outfit. I put her in white breeches with a gray full seat, which was awesome and my next pair of show breeches will for sure have a gray or black butt. Then we found a white shirt and I choked her with a not-pre-tied stock because all the pre-tied ones were in boxes and we were trying not to be destructive. And then she got the cutest black Pikeur jacket with little silver accents and buttons that I thought were a bit over the top but I don't care, I want that jacket.

After playing dress up (and being good customers who put everything back rather than leave it in the dressing room), we went exploring.

L is the most amazing dressage rider

This place is amazing and I'm grateful that the dumbest horse in the world is lame because I would have wanted to buy EVERYTHING since all of TC's stuff is hand-me-downs from Rico (except his halter + one saddle pad) and he obviously needs a whole new wardrobe even if he hasn't worn tack in 2.5 months.

There was this amazing snaffle bridle with a sparkly noseband that I totally wanted. But then a bridle next to it had silver piping on the noseband so I thought I'd rather go for that one. Can't decide. I *do* need a snaffle bridle at some point since my bridle is one that I bought when I worked at a tack store 12 years ago. Still going strong though so I can wait.

I totally wanted new stirrups too, and they had gray composite stirrups that were sort of calling to me. I haven't ever ridden in wide foot bed composite stirrups though, and I get along with my boring fillis irons just fine. So I put them down. But then picked them up several more times but ultimately left them.

I saw they had Custom saddles there, but only the Steffen Peters Advantage, which isn't my favorite. I love the seat on those things but the blocks aren't my style I don't think- haven't sat in enough to really know. Still better than my Custom Versailles, but they can't beat mine's price ($650 including tax), so I'll stick with mine.

I RIDE PONIES SO GOOD

Discipline change for sure

In a jump saddle! I look confused
as to why I'm sitting in this thing

I saw my future helmet, a CO with a sparkly stripe. I like my gray stripe one too though, especially with my shadbelly that has gray points. But my regular jacket is a boring black one and so maybe some sparkle in my helmet will make me look fancier. Or maybe it will just blind the judge so they don't see what's going wrong.  Excellent.

We saw a saddle pad that I NEEDED. It was bright blue and sparkly. If it had been less money and if I hadn't had a second pending ultrasound, I would have bought it and worn it to my first Tracey lesson back with TC because Tracey needs to know what she's getting into if she's going to be my trainer again. If it goes on sale, I'm totally buying it. And matching twinkle toes as well.

Sparkle noseband! To go with sparkle pad and sparkle helmet.
I like my nosebands thicker though...

I actually did want to buy a cute gray saddle pad with purple piping but again, the price point. Saddle pads are expensive these days, and not a necessity- I have tons of them. Boo for adult decisions.

I showed L the half pad I desperately want but need a sound horse (and a sale) to justify buying. It's a fleeceworks pad with thinline, which makes it super thick. I'm hoping that a thicker pad (with the ability to use inserts) will help keep Rico's saddle fitting TC as he puts on muscle. Then he can step down into the regular fleeceworks pad later. But I definitely looked at the ogilvy pads there too. I might have to look into those. I love the covers that you can get in pretty colors... but that may be the only reason why I want one. I like the idea of having a show cover in gray or white or black and then having a fun one for home in blue + silver + gray.

So many pretty jackets!! Need all of them

I also finally found Rico's leather halter, which I want to buy for TC when TC can graduate to using a regular halter instead of a rope one. I bought Rico's halter at that same tack store 12 years ago, before I even bought Rico- it's black leather with padding and silver piping with chrome buckles.

When I was thinking about buying TC, I wanted to immediately order that halter with a name plate for him, but couldn't find it. Eventually I gave up, remembering that I have no show name for him anyway. So we'll wait on that. Rico has had his for 11 years and his name plate is still sitting in my desk drawer. So no promises, TC.

This was the weirdest grooming mitt

It was SUCH a fun day. I mean it's always fun to hang out with L. But Dover was so cool, I definitely want to go back when TC comes back into work. But then my self control may not be so great. Shout out to the injured horse for simultaneously destroying and saving my bank account.

Getting Stronger

Dover post tomorrow for coordination's sake.

Sunday I had to teach all afternoon so I got up early to ride Rico so I could sit on something other than a fence all day!

I really think that the tea place I like down there should open earlier than 10, since I had to stop on the way out from Rico rather than on the way to Rico, terrible. I also think they should close/move before I move TC down past there, since then I will be quadrupling my tea consumption every week. No.

The fuzziest horse

Unfortunately I got caught up playing with my parents' dogs, who gave me the BEST greeting when I walked in, that I didn't have much time with Rico. Poor Rico, but Rico doesn't give me awesome greetings like the dogs do. I opted to ride bareback in the hackamore, not because I wanted to, but because of the time. Rico was totally okay with this.

All of the horses are shedding, but Rico really has never embraced his California life and continues to grow a winter coat that would not look out of place living outdoors in Germany (or the North Pole for that matter). I tried to brush him really quick with a regular brush, but that just seemed to create MORE hair so I grabbed the shedding blade and cleared a spot for my bareback pad.

Rico also had a TON of mud packed into his feet so I continued destroying my wrist by picking them out. I say continue because on Saturday night I went to the gym to run but then got bored after a mile (hey a mile is good for me) and did kettlebell swings but went a little too heavy and it flipped over backwards and my wrist wasn't too happy about that, woops!

If I were a horse, I would own me.

Rico wondering why, just why

I finally jumped on and did a bit of canter work while I was trying to post a picture of him on Instagram. He was not happy with my distraction (he is NOT appreciative of being the subject of many an instagram post) so he kept trying to break. Eventually I got him going pretty well when I put the phone away and actually used both hands on the reins.

We did a bit of piaffe and passage. The piaffe was excellent but the passage was a bit lazy. He definitely felt iffy on the right front- he's been doing a lot of running around in the pasture and given the number of rocks I found in his feet (and the farrier said that his toes were a little thin these days), I didn't blame him. He was sound, just not wanting to pound on those feet in passage.

The canter was great, he's feeling really strong in it these days, which is fun since over the summer he had felt kind of weak and I was worried that he was on a fast track to full retirement. We mostly just worked on changes at the canter. He was falling onto his left front leg and I had major flashbacks of his crookedness from years ago. For a long time he weighted the left front leg and it was super hard to get him to bend left. The techniques I used to get him off that left front (namely pulling on the left rein lol) made him fall out and become even worse to ride.

It was almost fun to have him back where he was so many years ago where I found him SO difficult to ride, since it was an exceptionally quick fix. Connect the outside rein, inside thigh lifting his wither, outside leg engaging right hind. Done. Soft and light on the inside rein/front leg, no pulling necessary. All those lessons really paid off, can't wait to take more this summer!

Roses + green at the ranch!

I then just trotted around and worked on my sitting trot. My goal is to get my seat back to where it was a year and a bit ago so that I can feel really confident when TC comes back. Rico is perfect for this- just bouncy enough to make me work my abs but not so bouncy that my hip wants to get tight. I really worked to loosen up the hip flexors that have been so tight since starting my job and not riding in sitting trot as much anymore.

I felt as close to my old seat as I could have been (and later that day rode my favorite paint horse and was FOR SURE back to normal- I felt so strong, phew). And Rico gave me some great half pass and shoulder-in just for entertainment so he didn't have to trot around like a lesson pony.

We ended with some stupidity. So grateful to have this horse while TC is at rehab. I love riding other horses, but Rico is one of the highlights of my week every weekend. This coming weekend I'm at the ranch both weekend days (and Friday night, I might ride him in the dark) so Rico will get as many rides as I can squeeze in. Poor Rico, hopefully one of those days will be hauling out to the trails though.

The best horse

And Again

Saturday morning I got up early to go see TC. The drive is definitely a little easier on Saturdays than on Fridays (since everyone and their mother drive to the central valley on Fridays), but I'd rather give up a few hours on Friday afternoons than on Saturday mornings. Weekends are precious and this one went by extra quick.

But I had used my wfh day on Tuesday for TC's ultrasound check up so I was at the office on Friday and couldn't really just take off at 1:30.

I got to the rehab facility early enough to spend about 30-40 minutes with TC and get home to shower and get ready for an epic taco + Dover adventure with L. But horses love to crush my hopes and dreams for a) being on time and b) being able to splurge a bit on something at Dover. The first thing I saw going into TC's stall was this:

This wasn't the important thing 

This was the second thing I saw

Fucking are you for REAL, horse?

I can say this though- I handled it with grace and didn't sob at the owners of the facility (or on the drive home). Probably just that Dover, L, and tacos were coming and how can I be sad when those three awesome things (plus the pulled pork I made for dinner) were waiting for me afterward?

Still though, ugh.

I called the owners of the place over and they felt TERRIBLE. I guess they usually brush him in the mornings but since I was coming, they didn't. They would have noticed since they know all the horses and their diagnoses really well. So apparently it must have happened some time between Friday night and when I got there on Saturday. Friday night one of the owners saw him and noted that his leg looked fine. They have their head guy wrap all the horses in the evenings and they are sure that he would have noticed his leg since he knows all the horses pretty well too.

Saturday morning TC got his wraps taken off and then did his morning eurociser with the SMBs before being put in his stall where he waited for me. I guess the guys that help with removing bandages and doing the eurociser might not have noticed. I mean it's pretty noticeable, but a lot of the horses there have fat ankles or windpuffs or whatever, so they don't really keep track of who has what. That's fine, fifteen minutes of walking on the eurociser wouldn't hurt it more than apparently standing quietly in a stall will.

He was so sweet though

One of the owners squished it and was very concerned. Apparently he's sensitive and there is a hard swelling on one of the suspensory branches.

I felt better to hear it's a hard swelling, even if the owner was nervous about it and thought we might need another ultrasound.. A hard swelling sounds like he thwacked it rather than pulled/strained it. I've had a lot of horses have soft tissue injuries in my life (lol why is this my life?) and never had there be a hard swelling unless it's associated with a splint. I have also bonked my head/knees/elbows/etc a lot in my life and had a hard lump there.

So I remained optimistic that it was probably that he hit himself with his other foot sometime that morning when he didn't have wraps on. I just can't see him being able to do anything in his stall or on the eurociser that would cause one of the branches of the suspensory to have been so messed up that it blew up bigger than the original injury.

Destroyer of all things- this was destroyed two
weeks ago so isn't associated with his new injury

But I mean horses are horses so I'm not counting my chickens until his leg is completely normal.

TC went back to icing twice a day and got put back on bute, along with some dex to try to get all the inflammation down. They also did a sweat wrap at least overnight on Saturday. Not sure what they did Sunday, but he is in wraps overnight no matter what.

I got a text on Sunday morning saying that his leg looked better. Not sure how much better. I'm still assuming that I am on standby for going to the vet tomorrow for another ultrasound. I hope my vet enjoys his next vacation, since it'll be on me with this asshole horse.

Going through my stuff- ice boots + meds on board

Despite him being broken again, I did have a nice time with him while I was waiting for them to get him all set up with ice boots and meds.

He was super cuddly. I think with his swimming and walking more, as well as just getting used to his life, I'm seeing his personality return- at least the one I knew from last summer. He's so sweet and wants to be in your lap all the time, but when he's too energetic, he gets pushy and a bit too in your face. He stuck his head in my arms and let me hug his nose, something I haven't been able to do (sans drugs) in months. Then he put his head on top of my head, which is weird and unnerving that his head can comfortably be that high up. I can stand under Rico's neck, but Rico has two inches on TC.

He is so cheesy, why does he bug his eyes when
he smiles? He looks deranged.

So today I'm just waiting to hear from them. But provided that his leg stays down, I think they're going to slowly take him off the bute/icing and make sure the leg stays normal. Swimming and minimal walking won't do anything to it even if it is a branch injury. But I do want to get it ultrasounded ASAP if it IS a branch injury since we may inject it with something to speed that healing along.

As much as it would irk me to have two serious vet bills in two weeks, at this point it's only money. I mean the money is important, but the thing with the first injury is that I had to adapt- it was a massive change to my day-to-day life. Suddenly my very sound horse was going to have soundness problems. Suddenly I was moving barns. Suddenly I had new expenses. Suddenly I had no horse. But now, if it's another injury, nothing really changes except the money. And maybe pushing his return to work out by a month if this one needs a longer time to heal.

Fingers crossed it's nothing though. I'm remaining positive.

A Closer Look: The Rider Tests

You can now do rider tests for Training, First, and Second level. This is an interesting idea. Having never ridden one, writing this post is going to benefit me a lot! But it's not going to be talking about tests I've had direct experiences with, so keep that in mind.

The idea of these tests is sort of like the young horse tests- you are given a series of movements and you must perform them, but the marks are all collective. Meaning you don't get judged on each specific movement like a typical dressage test.

The emphasis in the scoring is completely on the rider. Clearly you need a horse capable of these movements, and if you aren't riding them well, the judge is going to ding you as a rider for not being able to ride your horse through the movements. But it's nice to have tests where you can get around that damn gaits score.

Just because my pony can't canter, doesn't mean I sit badly. I can
sit badly regardless of the quality of the canter.

There are five collectives (each out of 10 and worth x2 for a total of 100 points possible) where you are marked at the end of the test.

These collectives are:

Rider's Position- just generally that you are in correct alignment and balance, that your seat is correct, and that you maintain a connection.

Rider's Correct and Effective Use of the Aids- I like this phrase best: 'the horse responds willingly, giving the impression of clear communication between rider and horse' because it implies to me that there needs to only be the impression of clear communication. I choose to interpret it this way.

Horse's Response and Performance- obviously the horse HAS to do the movements, this tests the training of the horse. They mention the training pyramid and the horse clearly *reacts* to the longitudinal and lateral aids. React is such a harsh word, let's call it respond instead.

Accuracy of the Exercises- good riders ride accurately I guess. They want to make sure that you go into your corners and do the movements correctly.

Harmony Between Horse and Rider- they want you and your horse to appear to be calm, focused, and confident. Again, you only have to appear this way, apparently you can be freaking the fuck out on the inside. Nice.

Most harmonious ever

Training Level Rider Test

The rider test has its own purpose:

To confirm that the rider sits in the correct posture and alignment and shows correct mechanics in walk, ring trot, and canter. The seat is sufficiently independent for the rider to maintain a steady, elastic rein contact and encourage the horse to stretch into that contact. The horse is ridden actively forward showing impulsion and balance required for the level, bends equally to the left and right sides on turns and circles, and makes smooth, willing transitions.

This test is restricted to rising trot, just FYI.

The directives have a lot of information about what the rider should be doing, but other than that, it's a pretty normal training level test with some interesting things in it. Like the half circle with 3-6 steps of walk across centerline. My guess would be that this movement tests the rider's ability to ride precisely.

The canter work is a tad odd, no long side, only a half circle and then you immediately go across the diagonal. That could prove difficult for some horses, but I think for a horse like TC who gets so fast and unbalanced, I like being able to pick up the canter on the circle in a good place (across centerline) and then immediately go across the diagonal and trot.

My impression of it is that it's a pretty short test. I think for some riders, it's going to seem a lot easier, especially than T3, but IMO I would probably skip it. Other than the canter pattern, for a horse like TC, it's just asking for me to be out of control. There's also just not that much time in the ring, which isn't great for a young horse. I see the point of the test (no I don't) but I don't necessarily like it for either horses or riders. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrong or maybe it rides differently than it looks though.

So cute, but needs miles

First Level Rider Test

Purpose:

To confirm that the rider, in addition to the requirements of training level, shows correct alignment, posture, and mechanics in sitting trot, including maintaining a steady, elastic rein contact. In turns on forehand and leg yields, the rider remains centered and the horse responds willingly to the aids. The transitions are ridden in a better balance and with more throughness than at training level. In response to the correct application of the rider's aids, the horse moves actively forward showing a consistent tempo and correct rhythm in each gait, shows appropriate bending, lengthens and shortens the stride in trot and responds willingly to both longitudinal and lateral aids. 

Wow that sounds harder than First level, even before I've looked at the test. Upon looking at the test, you don't sit the whole time, just for bits of it. Phew, because I was going to say- you don't have to sit the trot at First so the rider test should not reflect that.

I think this test is interesting. You start with this weird short diagonal lengthening, which I don't think is very fair to horses. That's an awfully short period of time to do a lengthening- I can see riders kick kick kicking out of the diagonal and then yanking the horse back before the horse has time to respond. After that you immediately go into sitting trot, which is nice because it makes you have to think about your downward transition, props to the test makers there since a lot of people just fly out of a lengthening with no transition.

More trot-walk-trot transitions over centerline. Not sure why you'd have that both at Training and at First for the rider tests... Though it's in a sitting trot bit so maybe it's to give the riders a break?

They have you do turns on the forehand in the test. That's interesting since it isn't a movement you ever do in a dressage test. Not sure if there's a point to that (I mean the movement is important but I'm not sure what makes it important for the rider test and not for the regular tests) or if it's just something else they're going to dump into this test because they wanted to make it different.

I bet you get extra points for looking down

Your canter work is weird. You pick up the canter at E and immediately start a canter circle, then half way through you gallop wildly lengthen for the rest of it. I like the idea of lengthening the canter on a circle, and it's done in the eventing tests. BUT I'm not sure why, again, they want to make the lengthening so short.

After the first bit of canter you leg yield from the rail in sitting trot to X. That's surprising since that's a steep leg yield for First. Immediately you half circle to R, then pick up the canter at B and do the same pattern but then randomly do a serpentine with simple changes through the trot on centerline. I guess that helps you set up for the 2-1 test, but I feel like it'd be hard to ride that as well as the 2-1 pattern- the walk is slower than the trot so for First level, these simple changes have to be QUICK to get them equivalent to the 2-1 pattern.

Immediately after the serpentine you do another steep leg yield to a half circle, this time to a stretchy trot which is one and a half circles instead of one. I think they just threw that in to get you situated in the right place to get you up centerline. But I, as a person with a horse who struggles with stretching, think it's dumb. I don't think I'd care as much if I were riding a different horse though, so take that with a grain of salt.

Overall I think that test is even stupider than the Training rider test. The simple changes on the serpentine are dumb, they come up so fast that you're going to get a lot of riders pulling. The turns on the forehand are dumb, but not as dumb as the short lengthenings or one and a half circle stretch circle.

TC and I will not be doing that First level rider test, not least
because I can't look up or sit up or keep my hands up

Second Level Rider Test

Ugh the last one. Let's look at the purpose:

To confirm that the rider, having achieved the requirements of first level, is able to ride the horse reliably on the bit with an uphill tendency. The rider lengthens and shortens the horse's stride in trot and canter while maintaining correct alignment, posture, and mechanics. In lateral movements, the rider stays centered and demonstrates an appropriate angle and bending of the horse. As a result of the correct application of the rider's aids, the horse shows a greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance, and self-carriage than at first level. 

That sounds good! And you're now sitting the trot the whole time, awesome.

This test starts out great with a medium trot, then it throws a FOURTH LEVEL MOVEMENT at you, which is shoulder-in on centerline. Then you do a 10m circle and ride travers up centerline. I'm actually not opposed to this series of movements, since it is hard to see the exact angle on the long side. But I feel like on a green Second level horse, I'd rather pour hydrochloric acid in my eyes than ride this movement in front of a judge.

The turns on the haunches are on the long side, which remember I said was sort of mean. Because these things are meant to be ridden larger than walk pirouettes (which are on the spot) so you're going to end up way off the road if they're a tiny bit large. Which then means that you have to ooze back to the rail. Oh well, not the meanest thing they did to you in this test.

The first canter movement is the simple change serpentine from 2-1, cool. Then they make everyone on FEI horses cry because they have you ride a medium canter across the diagonal from H to P, then you hold the counter canter to A when you ride a simple change. Wow recovering from a medium canter in counter canter is ROUGH.

Right away after you do your simple change at A, you do the exact same pattern from K to R with a simple change at C. Then you trot at S randomly, and randomly go down to V for your half circle onto centerline where you halt at G. Dude, could you not have made this test shorter and just had the rider trot at C and come up centerline at S or E?

Half halt, pony, need to prepare for endless random trotting down
the long side

I don't like this test. I didn't like any of these though. Do I hate change or are these tests stupid?

I think the trot work on centerline and the mediums across the diagonal are too much to ask of Second level riders. I mean sure it's a Second level movement, but so would be two tempis with simple changes instead of flying changes and we'd never ask that. It's like the habit of xc course designers to ask upper level questions at Novice. Just because the height is low doesn't make it a friendly course for a green horse or rider.

But the worst thing that can happen at these tests (vs eventing) is that you get your ego bruised with a low score. But hey, you can just blame it on not having a fancy warmblood right? Wait, you can't? Damnit.

This is my half warmblood so he is half fancy

Third level next week maybe!

Two Month Recheck

Tuesday morning I was planning on going into work, but my boss had me switch my WFH days so that I didn't have to sit in traffic for so long and then turn around and sit in traffic again to go to the ultrasound. So I let myself sleep in a bit and then worked until 9:45am when I hopped in the car and headed out across the bay.

A wonderful thing about the rehab center is that, not only are they taking amazing care of my not-so-amazing horse, they hand deliver him to the vet clinic! They have a standing Tuesday hauling day where they haul out, so they just stuck TC on the trailer and I met them there. This meant that poor TC was on the trailer from 6am to 6pm (since the rehab place is far away and they had two other horses to pick up before they left) except when he was at the vet. Oh well, good life experiences for him. Rico was imported from Germany (before I got him) so had to spend more than that many hours on a plane.

My mom, for no reason other than to solidify her place as best mom ever, also showed up, having driven the hour and a bit from the ranch. I appreciate having someone else there at the vet checks. Sometimes I get crazy so having someone who remains calm is good. I also love her perspective, she asks a lot of really great questions because she was a vet tech when she was younger.

Look how gray this baby horse is! He's got gray hairs all over his
body now instead of just in a few places

I couldn't concentrate in the morning so I left early, and it's a good thing I did. I got a call about fifteen or twenty minutes into my hour drive saying everyone was there and asking whether I was coming. Um, yes but I will be there ON TIME. I told them to drug him if he wasn't handling his shit very well, nothing like a reinjury during a recheck of the original injury.

I fought through the horrible bay area traffic (after rush hour wtf) and got there to find the owner of the rehab facility and my vet chatting about my horse. I heard something weird though... it was nothing. No screaming, no slamming against the wall. He must be drugged, I thought. Stupid horse.

I went to see him and he was contently staring out of the stall with a hind leg resting. The owner of the rehab place said that he had a little bit of tranq for the ride over, since they had never trailered him and didn't want to fight him if he didn't step right on, but that he was totally sober since obviously it had worn off.

Apparently he came off the rig, whinnied twice, was put in the stall, and other than some pawing (which he does in all situations), he was completely content to hang out for the 45 minutes it took me to get there.

WOW. This horse has grown up so much in the last two months. I'm so proud of him. That alone made my day.

Hard to see soundness because he's looking around the corner,
but this is after a flexion- no head bobbing (that isn't related to
staring at stuff)

As did watching him trot. They did give him a little bit of dorm to keep him settled while they trotted him out since I said that we'd had some airs above the ground the last time he was longed. My vet mostly wanted to make sure that he was sound and to observe how far his fetlock was dropping.

The good news is that TC was totally sound, which is to be expected at this stage, and that he is dropping his fetlock much more now. It's not completely even, and the suspensory still is filled in (I saw that last time I saw him) a tiny bit, but my vet was really happy.

TC's trot is so floaty, guys. He trotted on the longe line super round and fancy, like he was showing off for us a bit. He was probably so happy to be trotting in general. He's also so much fitter now- my vet was impressed with that. He's an expert swimmer, doing three laps every day in the pool.

Such a dork, but this is the right front fetlock drop

And this is the left front fetlock drop- you can see this one goes
down a tiny bit more

After some more dorm and xylazine, he was sleepy and we actually clipped his bridle path after he got his leg clipped.

The ultrasound showed two bad things and one good thing.

The good news is that his suspensory is completely healed!! The ligament itself looks completely normal- no sponginess. For a suspensory that we thought had two tears in it, I'm extremely happy with that.

One of the bits of bad news is that the suspensory IS adhering to the splint bone, which is exactly what we do NOT want it to. The nice thing about this is that a) it is only adhering for 3-4cm right at the origin site and only on the medial side, where we expected it to be, b) there is no tearing due to the adherence between where it's adhering and the rest of the suspensory, and c) TC is not showing any signs of pain due to the adherence- no lameness and no palpation sensitivity. What this means is that, while adhering isn't something that we like, it's not your typical oh-my-god-do-surgery-asap adherence. Good because I have no insurance on him at the moment.

To fix this, we're going to have TC walk on the eurociser more. The nice thing about swimming is that he gets to get stronger without any pressure on his legs. But the downside is that he doesn't get ANY pressure on his legs and what we need is that suspensory to break up and stretch out the spot that's adhering. If we can get the spot that's adhering to be looser than the suspensory itself, then it will never bother him.

Gotta love this view, ugh

The other bit of bad news is even more fixable. It's that the bone under the point where he ripped the suspensory out of the origin is weakened. Basically my vet described it like this- glue two pieces of plywood together, then rip them apart. It's not going to be an even split- one of the pieces will splinter and the other piece will have bits of it stuck. So when he yanked the ligament out of its origin site, it grabbed some periosteum (outside covering of bone) at the same time. It shows up as muddled dark gray on the ultrasound when it should be bright white.

We gave him an injection of... something that will strengthen the bone, I'm sure it will show up on my bill and be something that makes me cry because it's expensive- not as expensive as stem cell though.

I've also ordered a two month supply of Osteon, which is a supplement by Platinum Performance for bone strength, which he will stay on until the next ultrasound. And he'll continue to be on alfalfa for the calcium. The VERY good news is that my vet expects this to heal not only as strong as it was before the injury, but possibly STRONGER than before. He's not worried about this at all. I can remember back to the hock x-rays at the vet check when my vet found a roughened bit of bone at the origin site of one of TC's hind suspensories and said that he had probably slipped and it had healed itself.

His tail is so big! And the yellow part is slowly
growing out, hoping to keep it more silver.

So while I was bummed that we can't just say "omg TC is all healed, ready to come home!" my vet reminded me that it had been only two and a half months since he was injured in the first place. Soft tissue injuries take a LONG time to heal (6-9 months), especially when your horse rips an important ligament half way out of the origin site.

The other thing that made me feel better was reminding myself that Rico came back completely from several injuries and hasn't had a lame step or a swollen leg in over a year. BUT if I were to take Rico to my vet and have him ultrasounded, I bet he'd have a bunch of shit in all of his injury sites. As long as TC can stay sound for work, it doesn't matter what his leg looks like inside.

The big news will come at the end of April when TC gets his third ultrasound (ughh $$$). At this point we expect to either a) start him trotting and prep him for coming back into training with BRH trainer or b) see that the adherence is worse (we don't care if the bone thing is worse since there are more easy, non-invasive treatment options) and make a decision on surgery (which is very likely a no unless I decide to get him insured and the insurance covers everything- still debating on that) or to sit and wait longer with him still at rehab.

Honestly, I was so happy that he was so calm during the vet check, so quiet about standing in the stall, that I didn't really register that there was any bad news for a while. I got a bit sad on my drive back home. It's just hard to have a horse who is so young be injured like this. And I miss him, him being so good at the vet made me even more eager to get him back, so the thought of "yah he's injured but at least I don't have to deal with his bullshit for a bit" is disintegrating.

Drugs are good, guess who has a bridle path now?

But the good news is that my vet and I did get to talk about the future a bit and I'm feeling fairly positive about it. Obviously this all depends on the next ultrasound, but my vet was fairly certain that he'd be able to come back fully, which is really great news.

My vet knows BRH trainer and fully approved of sending him there for a while ever. I told him my concerns of keeping TC calm so we have some ideas:

1) TC will stay at the rehab center until he is strong enough to launch me and gallop around the property without me worrying about him (obviously NOT getting launched is the main idea), or play in his stall or whatever.

2) TC will be allowed turnout when he is okay to be worked at the canter, which should be fairly soon after he comes back. I'm also probably going to have BRH trainer try him on the hot walker to give him more things to do. If I can swing it financially, he'll get turnout every morning and either a ride or the hot walker every afternoon, two fun things every day.

3) It's okay if I have to ride him in the round pen (he even said I could longe him first! YES), but I need to do the majority of the work tracking left so that it takes weight off the RF suspensory. That's fine, left was the hard way for a long time anyway.

4) TC will be given the long term tranq again and be put on magnesium about two weeks before he comes back to keep him calm during the first couple of months so that he can have the best chance of staying quiet for rehab. We also talked about something like Perfect Prep for his first rides, and I'm fully on board with that. Don't argue with me (not that anyone would but you know), I can ride my horse without drugging him, but I need his mind calm so that he'll let me fucking rehab him the way he needs to be rehabbed.

Coming back fully means also that he'll be able to trail ride and jump! The vet said to hold off on those for a while, and I said that I could wait until next spring for both. The facility he's going to has a little trail we can do every day and a lot of room around the ranch to wander- it's completely flat. There is also the 2 mile loop at Harvey Bear that is flat so he can go on a real trail ride later this summer/fall. Maybe I can drag BRH trainer along for his first trail ride there- I can pick up Rico and then go grab TC and then I can ride Rico and BRH trainer can survive on TC. Do that a few times and I'll feel confident, I've always felt more confident in the open on TC than in the ring.

And we never really jumped before the injury, so not being able to jump him for a year doesn't bother me. Honestly, I might only ever jump him over tiny fences anyway, he's not the world's most talented jumping horse and I always wanted to be careful about not pounding on his dumb feet and create sidebone. So it sounds like I'll be able to do all the things I want to do on him.

My vet's new puppy, THIS IS THE BEST DOG EVER, I wanted
to trade him my dumb horse for his adorable dog

Honestly, after seeing how quiet TC was at the vet, and after deciding that the commute was worth being with BRH trainer, I'm not that nervous about him coming back anymore. The idea that he'll be almost ready to canter when he comes back AND I'll be allowed to start the rehab in the round pen, where I feel the most safe, I feel really ready for this!

Unfortunately none of this is happening any time soon though, my timeline from my last post was not at all accurate. I have eight more visits to TC before the next ultrasound. Then it will be at least a month before I can bring him home. So we're looking at June 1st or July 1st. I'm really hoping by mid-June since that's when my parents go away for their month-long vacation and it'd be really convenient to spend every weekend at the ranch helping my brother and SIL (who are not horse people) house-sit at the ranch and actually have my awesome pony to ride every day.

So interested in things, but NOT crazy :D

Between now and then though, I know I need to work on my own fitness and strength, including my own injury that I've sort of been ignoring for the last few months. The good news is that I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon on March 8th and will be putting together my own rehab schedule soon enough. I'm also FINALLY feeling normal enough to work out again (after two and a half weeks of being sick), so I'll be training for my 5k. I sat a lot of trot last night and am going on my first trail run in 2.5 weeks today.

And honestly, as much as I want my horse back, I know that commute will kill me if I have to do it for too long. My lease is up in October and I'll be able to move closer to the barn. So even if he comes back in July, all that means is that I only have three months to drive so far vs the six I would have to drive if he came back in April. I can do three months of that drive. Not a problem.

Horsetail Falls

This weekend, my best friend, who is basically a professional grade amateur photographer, wanted to do a day trip up to Yosemite to shoot Horse Tail falls.

It was overcast on Saturday, when we were supposed to go, so we swapped our days around and went on Sunday instead. This meant that I didn't teach this weekend, since I kept the whole weekend open just in case. Whatever, sometimes working 50+ hours a week isn't what you want to do. Sometimes you just want to drive 7 hours round trip to a beautiful place to sit in the cold all day.

Tunnel view

Unfortunately switching days meant that I couldn't see TC this weekend. I'm so so so excited to see him today. I'm hoping the vet is super late so I have an excuse to sit and play with him in the stall and not rush home to work. I also hope he doesn't need drugs so I can play with his smile trick again.

But Yosemite was so worth not teaching and not seeing TC (sorry pony). It's about a 3 hour drive from my house depending on traffic and there is zero excuse as to why I'm not going there all the time.

The night before, I made us pumpkin pasties from my awesome HP cookbook (bff is also a big HP fan and we were super giddy about them) and picked up some snacks at the store. We also stopped for fruit at Safeway because bff likes to try to be healthy (then four hours into our time at Yosemite, she turned and looked at me and said "I WANT CHOCOLATE" and I said "ME TOO WHAT IS WRONG WITH US?").

Once into the park, we headed straight to tunnel view because I begged for it. I was desperate to get some pictures there and have bff show me how to use my camera. On the one hand, I love having a photographer best friend because she's so patient with me as I go through all the buttons on my camera and she tells me what all of them do/how to use them. But then she is a bad influence because merely being in her presence makes me want to spend my entire savings account on a new camera so it can do more things.

The before shot, not much red in there

After tunnel view, we headed down to see Horsetail Falls. Now, before I go into detail, let me tell you why we decided that driving up to Yosemite in one day, not getting back til after 10 the night before work, was something that we thought was a good idea.

Once a year in the last couple weeks in February, the sunset hits the falls in a way that makes it look like it's on fire. The falls get really red and bright and it looks like lava is streaming down the mountain. Unfortunately for everyone but me, who had no idea what this was until bff asked me if I wanted to go, for the last FIVE years because of the drought, there hasn't been enough water coming down off the mountain in February for this to happen. This was the first year we've had the water for this to happen, yay!

Glowing. It looks photoshopped! I mean it is, but not completely.

We were going to a place where bff had coordinates. She had found a blog post that told us where to go to get the best view of the falls, since you want to be at an angle and be able to see through the trees.

Apparently every photographer that ever was ALSO read the blog post. For a span of at least a mile, possibly longer, cars were parked along the road. We got a surprisingly decent spot and headed out to the coordinates, which we didn't need on us since everyone and their mother was already there.

Now, this was at 12:30 in the afternoon. Sunset was at 5:30. Getting there FIVE HOURS EARLY did get us a somewhat decent spot, not like the people arriving at 4 who had to barge through the millions of dollars of equipment and the many people swearing at them under their breath. And we had snacks and hadn't hung out in two weeks since I was so sick, so we made due. Both of us are introverted and not fans of crowds, so we struggled a bit, but everyone was generally really nice- a couple of guys making small talk with us here and there, and people making jokes to the crowd.

It was a bit yellowish at first...

Five hours later the clouds rolled in and, while we did get some of the fire effect, it wasn't AS good as it was apparently the night before, where it had been cloudy all day and then cleared right before sunset. Damn, we could have been there for that! Oh well.

Leaving was exciting, since everyone wanted to leave at once. It actually wasn't that bad- once as you're IN the car, you don't have to be smooshed next to a bunch of people, some of which think that it's acceptable to SMOKE in a national park known for having a fire problem, WTF. So it was nice to get in the heat and out of the crowd, even if then we had to navigate out of the park and weren't lucky to get behind the car with Finding Nemo playing in the back seat.

Coming out of the park, there's a road you have to go down that's SUPER steep. Apparently most people take another road? I dunno, I was not paying attention. I was going through my camera looking at all the pretty pictures when I noticed that while everyone was turning right, we had turned off the road to the left. The only thing I knew was that we were surrounded by cliffs so I basically thought bff was just murdering us.

But no, just going down that road. Didn't stop me from shrieking and being suddenly pumped full of adrenaline. Bff thought that was hilarious but she felt bad for scaring me.

Then we got the real lava-pouring-off-the-
mountain look- I gotta redo this picture
since the mountain is too dark but figured
I'd show you guys

We got to my place a little before 10pm, so I longed my cat (if I don't play with her before I go to sleep, she runs through the house and uses me as a springboard) and jumped into bed. I was absolutely exhausted at work on Monday but man was it worth it.

I'm still working on all the pictures, I just kind of went through for fun and found shots for this post. Really hoping to blow up my tunnel view shot and mayyybe one of the Horsetail Falls shots to have more of my own photography in my apartment! It's not the best work in the world, but it's mine and I like being reminded of all the cool places I've been when I stare at my walls.

Planning more photography adventures with bff, including her patented star trails over tunnel view, night pictures at Pinnacles (plus the 11 mile hike I had wanted to do last time I was there), and making another trip down to Big Sur.

By far my favorite Big Sur shot, I need to
blow this shit up and stick it on the wall too

Today is ultrasound day. My boss had me switch my WFH day from Friday to today, which to me was a bummer because it means I have to squeeze visiting TC into my schedule on Saturday morning (instead of Friday afternoon), which means every day for two weeks I'm waking up to an alarm. Boo. Oh well. It's worth it to see my pony.

Fingers crossed that I can bring my pony home soon! But not too soon... I want it to be warm and NOT raining when he comes back. After this, there's a chance I only have FIVE more visits (if he comes home in April) or, more likely NINE more visits (if he comes home in May). Both of those seem so close! I'm also fine with thirteen more visits, which puts him home in June. If it's later than June I'd be disappointed. I'm eager to have the whole summer with BRH trainer so that going into winter, I feel really confident.