Similar to most of the rest of the US and southern Canada, we're in a heatwave right now. It's not awful, late 80s, early 90s mostly, but it gets hot early and I try and get my rides in by 10am.
Out of the three Rocky mares, one is definitely not pregnant, one definitely is, and one is pregnant but is probably losing it as the vet couldn't see a fetus on the ultrasound. Mae is the one who isn't, which is good for me as I can ride her again now. We didn't need the ultrasound as she came into really strong heat last week, but she got checked anyway. So, she's a little fat barrel right now, so I'm doing 2 or 3 trails a week, plus 2 or 3 school sessions with her. She needs suppling, fittening and her gait needs to become more regular, so I'm working on circles, beginning pivots and leg yield, as well as canter departures and keeping her soft in the poll. She's very round and curvy, so finds it easy to relax into a nice outline, even while gaiting, whereas some Rockies are very angular and find it hard. Amber, Valerie's trail horse, is back from the trainer's, so we're going on an overnight trail at the end of next week to the lower Laurentians to get the Rockies out and about and noticed!
Maverik left for his new home yesterday, to go and compete in dressage level one and two over the summer with two girls and their mum. His leaving wasn't without drama as despite wearing a poll guard, he reared up after he was loaded and smacked his head on the roof of the trailer, injuring his forehead. We called the vet to meet us at the new barn and it turned out he actually cracked his skull. Yikes. He was sedated, given stitches and plenty of antibiotics and hopefully he'll be ok from now on, but it was damn scary! Luckily the people were very nice about it and coped well!
Saturday, 23 July 2011
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Come on, Canada Post!
i still have not had the call from the computer shop saying that my new keyboard has been delivered so I have found a separate one which I have connected up. The Canada Post strike has affected deliveries with a huge backlog, but I've received all my backdated mail, so fingers crossed it will be soon!
The three mares are having their ultrasounds next week to see if we have any pregnancies.
I am starting more advanced groundwork with Lily the big grulla Rocky Mountain. She discovered a nasty habit of pulling back in cross ties so far that she overbalances and last week she fell. Fortunately the floor is non slip and soft, and the ties snapped, and she was actually very calm about falling (!) but it's getting to be a problem where she has also spooked when leading and despite pressure telling her to move on, she has run backwards. When not spooked, she responds to pressure fine and leads very well, so this lesson is going to have to be repeated until she gets it. She's a big girl, 14.3 at 2.5, and very stocky, so the next few months are vital.
Now, my verrry late TREC report:
The Sunday dawned a nice day, we set up obstacles on the Saturday. The course was:
a slalom of orange cones, just 4.
a corridor of two poles, 90cms apart to go through.
a gate, which was the lead rope on a clip between wings.
a maze, which was 90cms wide and kind of an s shape, so you rode in, turned left, walked forward, then turned right and rode out. The sides were raised and if you knocked them, in real TREC you`d get penalties.
a bridge of planks of wood
another corridor of poles to ride through then rein back.
low poles, which are meant to be 20cms taller than the horse you`re on, and there are 3, so it`s about 6 feet you have to ride for, under them. Mav was a complete pro and on our 2nd go, we trotted under and on our 3rd go, we cantered!
After this, there were cones set up about 100m apart to do the collected canter away from the horses and then the extended walk back to them.
We ran through it one by one, and I went first each time as the poles needed to be highest for me! Mav was fab. He freaked at the bridge first time, even though he`d seen it plenty of times last week, but was cantering over it by the end of the morning. We did three goes round, walk, trot and canter, and we smashed up the maze a bit, but I was riding it wrong, so we sorted that out at the end when we had a little practice, and he also cantered the cone slalom, doing nice counter canter. He`s so much better outside.
The three mares are having their ultrasounds next week to see if we have any pregnancies.
I am starting more advanced groundwork with Lily the big grulla Rocky Mountain. She discovered a nasty habit of pulling back in cross ties so far that she overbalances and last week she fell. Fortunately the floor is non slip and soft, and the ties snapped, and she was actually very calm about falling (!) but it's getting to be a problem where she has also spooked when leading and despite pressure telling her to move on, she has run backwards. When not spooked, she responds to pressure fine and leads very well, so this lesson is going to have to be repeated until she gets it. She's a big girl, 14.3 at 2.5, and very stocky, so the next few months are vital.
Now, my verrry late TREC report:
The Sunday dawned a nice day, we set up obstacles on the Saturday. The course was:
a slalom of orange cones, just 4.
a corridor of two poles, 90cms apart to go through.
a gate, which was the lead rope on a clip between wings.
a maze, which was 90cms wide and kind of an s shape, so you rode in, turned left, walked forward, then turned right and rode out. The sides were raised and if you knocked them, in real TREC you`d get penalties.
a bridge of planks of wood
another corridor of poles to ride through then rein back.
low poles, which are meant to be 20cms taller than the horse you`re on, and there are 3, so it`s about 6 feet you have to ride for, under them. Mav was a complete pro and on our 2nd go, we trotted under and on our 3rd go, we cantered!
After this, there were cones set up about 100m apart to do the collected canter away from the horses and then the extended walk back to them.
We ran through it one by one, and I went first each time as the poles needed to be highest for me! Mav was fab. He freaked at the bridge first time, even though he`d seen it plenty of times last week, but was cantering over it by the end of the morning. We did three goes round, walk, trot and canter, and we smashed up the maze a bit, but I was riding it wrong, so we sorted that out at the end when we had a little practice, and he also cantered the cone slalom, doing nice counter canter. He`s so much better outside.
We then had a break for lunch and afterwards, we went to the manege to do a cavaletti and the immobility, where there is a circle drawn, you dismount there, walk out and your horse should stand. Everytime I practised this, inside and out, he was brill and didn`t move an inch. Today, he followed me like a dog. Typical! Then we had to remount from the right - I was allowed steps!! - and ride out of the manege, up and down the ditch there, and back round. I was allowed to do the bigger jump, because he tripped over the cavaletti, and I kept asking him to take a long stride and he was flying. All in all, it was a lovely day, he really surprised me with how cool he was with everything, and the French TREC guy who was training us was really impressed too. I`d love him to go to a fun home, not just someone who wants to do dressage. He`s so bored doing that. He`d be a great riding club horse in the UK, or a worker if he got plenty of outings, but there`s nothing like that here. He`s a warmblood, so he does dressage. Poor guy. There`s no local show scene or anything.
I`m just so pleased because everyone was so incredulous like `you want to do it on Maverik?!`and making jokes about him spooking and not being able to do anything, when he was an absolute trooper. and he likes to curl his neck round and chew on your feet while you`re waiting around. Or his reins. He is a character.
Last week I did a jumping session on him, now he's been declared good to go by the osteopath, and he did a 1.05m upright no problem. He's a star.
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