deja deja vu?

Tatoum LEAPing into spring!

The Mae saga continues...she's been sound for a few weeks now. Seeming stiffer on cold, damp days, but today and yesterday were very cold and she was good. I've been up on her bareback again and my oh my, last Friday I asked her to 'trot on' and she did. Easily. So she's now trotting and gaiting a little bit every day. She still needs to lose about 100lbs, but it's slow work.

we went to see the neighbour's alpacas. Tatoum was fascinated.

I am still working with the stallion on his horrendous canter. He goes 4 beat or just seems to scramble all his legs at once. I don't think it'll ever be great, but usually the second and third time I ask him in a session he finds it easier. I'd guess he spent most of his life not cantering with a rider on his back, so I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

We had a week of glorious summer last week in southern Quebec. All the snow melted and then the meltwater dried up, apart from in the drainage channels so Tyler and I took as many horses as we could on stream and ditch crossing missions/trails whilst it was hot and the water was running. It was fun!! We were riding in vest tops, in 25c in the middle of March. Heavenly!

Last week I went with the boss to the vet hospital at St Hyacinthe, which was pretty fascinating. Amber has been lame since about last August, without any periods of soundness, so it was decided it was time to sort it out. She had about 5 nerve blocks across both front legs, ultrasounds, radiographs and they used some new gait analysis software. They decided she has old swellings on both front tendons, something stiff in her right hind and possible arthritis in her neck. She's 9 years old...I was pleased that at first they couldn't tell where her lameness was. I used to have to come back after longeing her to tell me boss one day that she was lame in the right, next lame left, next lame behind, next lame in front...I started doubting my eyes for sure!

Finally, I'm studying for and taking my CEF Western Rider exams. I'm having so much fun riding a finished western horse with a coach. I've learnt pretty much everything I ever wanted to know, plus a lot more. I can now walk, jog, lope fast and slow circles, pivot, sidepass, ride one handed, ride two handed - extremely hard to do everything always with both hands! - and I will have the certificates to prove it! I find it hard to ride without nagging with my heels, to trust the horse to make transitions like halt to canter, to keep my reins loose and to not grip too much with my thighs. But I'm doing well. I've passed levels one and two with very good scores and am planning on three in the next couple of weeks. The biggest compliment my coach gives me is 'From just seeing you ride like that, I wouldn't know you were an English rider.' Ha! I would love my old dressage trainer to see me ride western. Fantastic!

Holy Moly!

Mr. Stallion.

Things change fast round here! So, we're taking three Rocky Mountain horses to the Salon du Cheval in Quebec which is an exhibition and competition, although we're just exhibiting. Boss wants to take three different colours, which is fine, except the grulla isn't yet certified and can't really be ridden as her gait is frankly, terribly hard for her to perform. So then there's a chocolate one, she wants to take Ella, who will be ridden western and show trot and gait, except her canter is terrible at the moment, and I am now taking the stallion, little black beauty, who has a canter but I will need to work on it a lot over the next two months. I will also do a couple of small jumps with him. He's got a great 'hup!' on the trail, and if he could just sort his legs out, we'll be able to do it from a canter. He can do poles and tiny little half a foot things but he really does need more balance. They can't jump from a gait as the footfalls are all wrong, and he for sure cannot trot, so it'll be a long road, but I miss jumping, so I'm happy.

This last week has been spring break for the small child so I've not had to do any school runs and consequently have done many trails, amidst the melting snow and ice. Stallion is my mount of choice as Tatoum is mainly schooling and a trail a week, and Mae is still in rehab...he's barely 14hh, but he's all in proportion and he's game as anything. He gets a little spooked by the deep footing at one of the stream-that-never-froze crossings, but he sniffs it out and has a little face splash before thrusting over. We encountered a - in my eyes - much scarier, steeper down, across and up again steep ditch with a big branch across, but there was no running water and after he'd had a quick look, he scrambled down and up most calmly. He then stood whilst I gave myself a lower back cramp, breaking off a large pine branch so the others could follow without braining themselves. He also gamely 'swims' through deep snow. Last week, we accidentally rode into a drift that was up to my stirrups and past his belly. He considered his options, I grabbed my huge pommel and gave him all the rein so he could lurch out. Didn't bother him a bit.



Mae had more lameness the other week so she had another week of reduced turn out and nights in a stall. I then started doing free work with her, mainly at the walk but asking her to trot a bit and she got through a bit of stiffness. She doesn't gait unless under saddle so it's hard to see a problem there. As I've said before, she's ace, so after one session of trotting in big circles, I hopped on her back with just a halter and rope to cool her down. She was incredible. She neck reins, she halts at whoa, she does circles, serpentines, backs up. I even rode her with just a neck rope, which she pretty much 'got' too, although it was a little harder for me to get my messages across. Not her fault! I am very keen to explore this side of her, once she's ready to gait and canter under saddle again. When everything unfreezes, I can also start my walks up and down the lane with her, a nice firm surface is better for their gait-ness.