It’s been several weeks since the car accident. I’ve been cleared for riding for a while. I’ve ridden a little during the weekends, usually only for 20-30 minutes at a time. I’m mostly healed from the neck injury, but there are lingering issues I’ve been working on with a physical therapist. Periodic neck pain and soreness on the coccyx (alleviated immediately by moving or standing up) have lingered. Seems like the last 5%...
Continue reading...Kasane
Free lunging Kasane
When Kasane and I do serpentines free-lunging, I usually only have my carrot stick (4′ stick used for cues with a six foot lash). You are right in that most of the cues she is working from are body language and voice commands (walk, trot, reverse, etc.). You know how you can feel when your horse is hooked on when free lunging? It’s like that, except we are in the big arena and...
Continue reading...Visiting the mares
On the drive out to the barn, my headache of two days went from mild to bad to worse. I get sinus headaches with migraine-like symptoms (light and sound sensitivity especially). My head was way too sensitive to go riding. I still went out to the barn since I hadn’t been out all week and it was driving me crazy not seeing my girls. I walked into Kasane’s field and out to her....
Continue reading...Dealing with resistance when riding
It is easy to feel frustrated because I don’t know what to do when Kasane says “no I don’t want to do this.” I know how I used to ride: I’d insist that she do something. With Isis, if I insisted and she wasn’t clear on what I was asking (or more likely I wasn’t sure of how to ask her to do what I wanted), it would end up escalating. Where escalating...
Continue reading...Adventures when riding with contact
I usually ride English so I’m riding in a loose ring snaffle bit. Kasane has a Herm Sprenger KK Ultra 4 3/4″ snaffle with small losenge like piece in the middle of the snaffle. Rajiyyah’s bit is a similar design, except it has a copper mouth piece. When I ride Kasane, we usually ride with light contact so there is a direct line from my arm to her mouth. The connection is made...
Continue reading...Trail ride report
On Sunday morning, Tara invited me to come with her on a trail ride around the farm. The trail ride was fun and enlightening. Kasane was pulled out of the stall, saddled, and away we went (instead of working her in the ring first). Tara rode Rooster (Friesian/Paint cross), Carmen lead Geronimo (standardbred/QH cross), and I was on Kasane. We headed out down the road and past the pastures, and then along the...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting in the morning
Tomorrow morning we’re taking Kasane to have her saddles fitted. It’s been over a year since I purchased the Prestige Venus K monoflap saddle. It was fitted to her when she was butt high and she is now level (even slightly up hill). Because the saddles aren’t quite adjusted properly for her new physique, my lower back hurts when I ride in the saddles. The all purpose is especially hard for me, so...
Continue reading...Saddle fitting
Kasane had her saddle fitting yesterday and there were some pretty big surprises. First off, instead of being butt high, she’s leveled out. When the saddle fitter saw her, he said “Oh my!” at how much she has changed since the last time he saw her. At the saddle fitting last summer, her right side was a saddle width narrower than her left and her rump was considerably higher. This time Kasane turned...
Continue reading...And Kasane said WHEE!
I spent this evening at the barn after an intensely stressful week of deadlines and conflicting priorities. So I went out and played with my girl. She was still in the barn when I got there. She yelled when she saw me. It’s been in the mid-70s, so beautiful weather and 20 degrees cooler than last week. She was up when I lead her out to the arena. I let her go when...
Continue reading...Trim time
It had only been eight weeks since the mares had been trimmed. Last week their feet looked okay. Friday their feet in serious need of a trim. The farrier took off almost half an inch from both girls’ feet during the trim. Very impressive. Rajiyyah’s feet had grown so much that the hoof wall had overgrown the shoe. Here you can see Rajiyyah’s right foot nearly trimmed compared to her left foot which...
Continue reading...Week six of rain and rain rot
I can barely keep up with the rain rot on Kasane and Rajiyyah — much less help them heal when the rain keeps coming down. They are kept in some times, but that doesn’t help because the rain may come up in the middle of the night. I can’t put a sheet on them because that will just keep reinfecting them by getting the fungus on the rain sheet and then rubbing it...
Continue reading...Summer grooming time
It was raining when I went to the barn. No riding or working in the rings because of the mud so I spent the afternoon brushing and loving on Rajiyyah and Kasane. They are both shedding their summer coats. Rajiyyah kept nuzzling me over the top of the stall door. Both Kasane and Rajiyyah have rain rot. Kasane has it all along her spine from her whithers to her croup. Rajiyyah has it...
Continue reading...Rain rot on the mares
Both girls have rain rot really bad and it’s driving me nuts. Kasane’s back is so sore from rain rot that she flinches when my finger tips lightly touch her. Poor baby. The dew poisoning on Rajiyyah’s legs are at least looking better. The scabs still hurt even when I’m gently cleaning or putting salve on them. She holds up her back leg and moves it forward then reaches around her head to watch...
Continue reading...Farrier on Saturday
Yesterday the farrier did Prize, Kasane, and Rajiyyah. Prize has a regular trim. Kasane and Rajiyyah both get front shoes. Rajiyyah is a pro at it, but this was Kasane’s third or fourth pair. Before the farrier arrived, I gave Kasane some Quietex (contains L-Triptophan, think same mellowing agent in turkey). We went into the ring and lunged for about 20 minutes to help her work off any extra energy. She was a...
Continue reading...Free to ride!
I saw the physical therapist today. He said that typically a calf injury like mine takes about three weeks total to heal from the last time it was injured. (So I’m halfway through that time.) The best thing? I’m cleared to ride. Yay! Kasane is going to be so happy. She was bouncing around over the weekend. So much energy because I haven’t been able to do much with her. She’s had rain...
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