Four Weeks To Make Changes

"Don't take things too seriously - live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets"

- Unknown

Four weeks wasn't enough time to make any major changes and have time to make sure no new problems were created. There were some areas that definitely needed tweaking though.

 

On my end it was camping supplies for the horses. There was no magical barn at the next ride, so camping it was. The hubs had spent his time in camp looking at the various methods. Three stood out as the most common: creating a high tie for the horses, adding an extended arm to the trailer, or using a portable corral.

High tie example

Trailer example

Portable corral example

 

Well, the high tie seemed like a royal pain in the butt to set up and it required either trees or posts to be present. It was highly unlikely that we would do this. The trailer arm was interesting, but I worried how Gem would sleep without getting caught in the rope. That left the portable corral. The hubs agreed it was the best option for us and he researched what was out there. It arrived just before we left for the next ride.

On Gem's end it was trotting on the lead. Of course this wasn't her fault because I had never bothered to teach her. It took all of 10 minutes. She is a very smart horse. I took her to the indoor arena and made her stand. Then I said "ready? Lets go" and jogged off. At first she walked along behind me but I encouraged her to trot (she knows voice commands) and eventually she did. I stopped as soon as she trotted 5 steps and praised her. Lather, rinse, repeat. By the end she was trotting off smartly each time I said "ready? Lets go". I made a huge difference at the next ride. Other than that I just rode her as normal which at the time was 2 days a week in the arena and 1 day on trails.

Finally, I looked into electrolytes. Pretty much every rider uses them for the horse to some degree or another. Some add it to the grain daily, others have it in liquid form and syringe it into the mouth after rides, others mix it with applesauce and syringe. Each rider has their own equation as to how much and how often to give it. I still have no real clue what works best for Gem, but I planned on giving her a half dose the night before the ride, a half dose in the morning, a half dose at the hold and maybe another at the end depending on how she was doing.

Then ride weekend came and it started all over again :)

 

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