The Repurposed Horse

Last week, B and I traveled 1.5 hours southeast to pick up a Western saddle that I had found on Facebook for cheap. It's a 17" (because he is a very tall person) Wintec that came with a pad for $115 - too good a deal to pass by. We tried it on Leo when we got home, and it fit nicely. I also put him in a random western headstall because aesthetics are everything, and then Leo was being so chill that I decided to hop on and see what would happen. To my immense surprise, Leo was pretty well behaved - he didn't exhibit any of his normal herd sour behaviors, and seemed to be really happy with his new western apparel. Then the weather changed dramatically and it started to rain, so I hopped off and untacked pretty quickly. Last week was quite busy, and I didn't get the chance to ride Leo again until Saturday. KG lent us a smaller western saddle, and I tacked Leo up excitedly. He seemed a little more lit than he had the previous week, and this continued under saddle...

For almost as long as B and I have been dating, he's wanted to get into riding. He doesn't want to do anything competitive - he loves horses, and wants one that he can trail ride around for the joy of it. When I retired Leo and got Spring, we hoped that he would settle enough to be a trail horse for B. Unfortunately, Leo has made it pretty clear that although he's ready to come back to work, he's not quite boyfriend horse material at this point in his life. So, we've been hoping that a more suitable mount would come along. We found a nice western saddle for B thanks to a local tack Facebook group, and we've been crossing our fingers that a horse would soon follow. I don't talk about it much on this blog, but I work at a local therapeutic riding center one day a week and have for some time; I met the executive director ((KG)) through B's former boss when we first started dating, and have worked for her since before I had ever even been to CEC. S...

Wow, I am really failing at this whole blogging thing lately. My apologies, everyone (if anyone out there still reads this, thanks for sticking with me!) Winter is here Where do I even start? Spring has been back in under saddle work now for about a month, and has been doing amazingly well - she feels like a completely different horse after her two month groundwork boot camp. She is better balanced, her hind end is stronger, and her overall demeanor is much calmer. The headshaking seems to be completely under control, which I think is due to a combination of factors including her overall fitness, my figuring out how to stay out of her face when riding her, and the Quiessence supplement ((I did an experiment where I took her off the supplement for a week to see if anything changed, and at 6 days without she was starting to exhibit some of her former behaviors, so she's back on it now)). Spring has actually been doing so well that she's going to spend this week trying ...

This week's lesson - after the flat, Trainer K took our saddles away. And it was a freaking blast! Halo is a 7ish y/o appaloosa/paint cross, and he was such a good boy. On Thursday, Spring and I have a private lesson with Trainer K! If all goes well, we'll be jumping a bit - although she's letting me keep the saddle for that.

In case the title of this post alarmed you, never fear - this is not about Spring! It's also not about Leo, who is still getting the winter off before hopefully starting his own rehab journey in the actual spring. Both my babies are happy, healthy, and sound *knocks on all the wood*. This post is about Nigel, the horse I'm rehabbing for Trainer K! Nigel is one of CEC's two single-eyed horses Nigel is a 21 year old lesson horse. He's a TB cross of some sort - the kind of fancy mover with auto changes and a heart of gold that has always made him a lesson favorite, and he's spent the last 6 years packing riders of all levels and ages around lessons and lower level hunter shows.  He came up lame in the summer, and has spent the last six months growing fuzzy and fat as his tendon injury healed. Before he lost his eye to an infection, he was a talented upper level show horse. Two weeks ago, the vet cleared him to start his rehab.  We got to skip the hand wal...

Last night, B and I visited Leo at my neighbor's, where he spends most of his time right now - they put a round bale out, so he, Saja, and the donks have been spending most of their time on that side of the property.  He was happy to see us, but soon after we reached him the donkeys wandered off into the woods, and homeboy was LIT when he realized they had left him behind.  What followed was a ridiculous but highly photogenic display of herd sourness as Leo galloped circles in the sunset, wanting to follow the donkeys but not wanting to leave Saja behind.  Sadly for Leo, Saja was not interested in relocating, despite his repeated urgings and saddlebred stallion imitations.  Eventually he settled down, and I got some pretty fantastic photos. Also, there is no longer any hint of lameness - he hasn't taken an off step in months, and his antics only emphasized his soundness.  I don't want to jinx anything, and I don't...

Hello, hello, hello. It's not quite been a month since my last post, but I'm getting dangerously close. I do most of my posting at night, at my job, and all fall my down time at work has been taken up entirely by online classes, because I decided that taking a few would be fun. For some reason. To make up for my absence, this post is heavy on the mini-donkey pictures, because their adorableness cannot go unshared. Spring's 20 days of groundwork went by quickly, and the improvements were definitely noticeable - not just in how she was moving and carrying herself, but also in her ground manners, which weren't terrible but definitely needed improvement. Her appointment with the chiro was last Monday, and while it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns, it was definitely better than her first set of adjustments. She went from "completely locked up in her back" to "tighter on one side." She had a trigger point on one hip, and her neck was tight,...