If you recall, last weekend Gem and I had a difference in opinion when it came to the importance of getting into the trailer. She won. Not good.
Saturday was D-day. I headed out to the barn around 10 am and planned to spend the entire day if it was needed to make her understand that while I appreciate the fact that she has an opinion, in this case it doesn't matter.
I tied two 20' lunge lines together (although I really only needed one), hooked it to her halter, up through her side of the trailer, around the center divider and back out to me. I grabbed a borrowed dressage whip and started tap tap tap on her big brown (and shiny :) buttocks. She stood there and took it. I thought we were in for a loooong day.
Apparently the tap tap tap is pretty annoying because it didn't take long for her to react by rearing up and scooting off to stand beside the trailer. The lunge line got snagged on the hinge of the back trailer window and this ticked her off. I unhooked it and led her back to facing the trailer. Tap tap tap. She reared again and again ended up beside the trailer. I unhooked the snagged up line and brought her to face it again.
Eventually I gave up on bringing her around. The rope prevented her from ever facing away from the trailer and kept a constant pull toward it, so I didn't care really where she stood. I didn't appreciate the rearing though and so when she did that she got a whack. Any forward motion or really any hint of forward motion and she was told she was good and given a break. But if she refused to moved when asked, it started again.
40 minutes later and she was on the trailer!
She stayed put for about 3-4 minutes while I told her how awesome she was and gave her treats which she refused out of principle. Back out and I walked her around and headed back to the trailer.
Nope. Wouldn't get on. This time it only took 10 minutes before she gave in and got on the trailer. I did this for 2 hours until she got on with only a lead rope and no whip.
Lunch break then an hour later I returned.
You should have seen the look she gave me in the pasture when I went to get her! It was priceless. But she stood there and let me drag her back out. She loaded just fine the first time, but not the second and so she got hooked back up and we started again. But she went on just fine in the end and all was well when I left her.
Sunday I went out alone with my big girl panties on and hooked up the trailer, grabbed Gem and she loaded great. No whip. No ropes. She walked right on.
After the ride she had attitude. I'm not sure why she is worse to come home. You would think she would want to get her butt home and be put back out. I just don't get it. So I gave her two chances. Nope. I hooked the lunge ropes back up and by the time I walked over to grab the end she decided it wasn't worth it and just walked on by herself. Good girl!!!
I know we aren't perfect and she will fight again, but at least now I have the tools to out do her.
April 9, 2014
April 8, 2014
More Than One Way To Skin A Cat
That's a much better title than "Data", don't you think?
I met up with a new riding friend, T, on Sunday. She has a seasoned 50 miler gelding who is a little on the pudgy side right now and is getting into the season. He acts just like Gem used to on the trail....looking for monsters everywhere, sudden stops, spooks, turns etc... Except for one big difference. He is blind in his right eye. He has a good excuse. What was Gemmies??? :)
Sunday's ride taught me two very important things:
1.) My mare rocks
2.) You can get to the end goal in very different ways
Why does my mare rock??? Because I said so. So there.
In the not so distant past, she was...hmmm...obnoxious out on trail. Alone she would spook and move at a snails pace. With another horse, don't even think about asking her to lead unless you want to literally go 1 mph and stop every 2 feet. Behind another horse she would bury her nose in their butt, annoying the horse to the point of nearly being kicked while blinding her to the trail so she would stumble on absolutely every little thing. Not the most fun ever.
Ever since I started to ride her out solo she has vastly improved in confidence and this has resulted in a calmer and better behaved mare. She has now led at a trot two weekends in a row with another horse. Actually, Sunday was even better than last weekend. When following, she has kept a wonderful distance between her and the horse in front, has not stumbled and is on a loose rein. It is awesome and a ton of fun.
It makes me wish she was 10 again because I know with just a little more time she could be a 100 mile horse. But not at 17. I won't ask her to do that much at 17. I even worry a 50 is asking too much at her age, but she doesn't act 17 and she will tell me when it becomes too much and I know I will listen.
Point #2. I am getting better at remembering my Garmin. While it isn't perfect, it gives me a lot to work with.
My ride with S: we walked quite a bit. When we trotted Gem kept up for the first 5 or so miles, but wasn't able to as well for the last 3. Which is a conditioning problem and we can fix that with time. We also got some canter work in. Some by mistake as she tried to catch up to S (whose horse just glides at the trot and eats the ground up!) but S also cantered some as well. At the end we finished with a 3.5 mph pace.
My ride with T: we trotted pretty much the entire thing. We did my usual green loop although we took a couple different turns which shaved off about a half mile. We walked maybe a half mile total, if that. Gem did really well, even led at a trot and was not tired at all in the end. She didn't even break a sweat. Guess what? We averaged a 3.4 mph pace.
Huh.
This makes me think. I am not even sure what all implications this really has.
I like giving Gem's trotting muscles a break. Whether that is through cantering short sections or walking, either way her muscles get a break from the constant action of trotting down the trail. So in theory, the ride with S sits better with me. You don't actually have to trot the entire 50 miles. (Which I knew anyway, but this proves it to me). In fact, during my ride with S I mentioned my first ever LD and how we trotted the entire 25 miles. She commented that she doesn't like to ride like that and prefers to mix up the gaits more.
Of course this works super well when you are on a magic carpet of a mare whose walk is nice and fast and trot is even better to make up the miles and keep a better overall pace. Gem may be able to get better though with time.
But then when I look at how Gem fared with the two rides, it seems she prefers the ride with T. Slower, but steady trotting. She wasn't nearly as tired and didn't break a sweat.
Two other factors to bear in mind: this weekend we went 5.6 miles versus closer to 9 miles last weekend and it was 50 degrees and cloudy versus 65 and sunny with S. Also, the ride with S had a lot more hills in it. So that makes a big difference in her attitude, energy level and sweat at the end. I would wager than had we done 9 miles of trotting she would have been equally as tired at the end.
Maybe this all means nothing. Maybe it means a lot. I think more time, more miles and more tracking are in order to figure out how Gem actually likes to go down the trail. She is an all star eater and won't ever pass up the chance to nibble on the trail. I'm a little worried that she passes up every single creek and won't drink. She used to drink super well in the past, but then again we were going farther and faster. Hopefully she starts drinking more when she needs it.
I met up with a new riding friend, T, on Sunday. She has a seasoned 50 miler gelding who is a little on the pudgy side right now and is getting into the season. He acts just like Gem used to on the trail....looking for monsters everywhere, sudden stops, spooks, turns etc... Except for one big difference. He is blind in his right eye. He has a good excuse. What was Gemmies??? :)
Sunday's ride taught me two very important things:
1.) My mare rocks
2.) You can get to the end goal in very different ways
Why does my mare rock??? Because I said so. So there.
In the not so distant past, she was...hmmm...obnoxious out on trail. Alone she would spook and move at a snails pace. With another horse, don't even think about asking her to lead unless you want to literally go 1 mph and stop every 2 feet. Behind another horse she would bury her nose in their butt, annoying the horse to the point of nearly being kicked while blinding her to the trail so she would stumble on absolutely every little thing. Not the most fun ever.
Ever since I started to ride her out solo she has vastly improved in confidence and this has resulted in a calmer and better behaved mare. She has now led at a trot two weekends in a row with another horse. Actually, Sunday was even better than last weekend. When following, she has kept a wonderful distance between her and the horse in front, has not stumbled and is on a loose rein. It is awesome and a ton of fun.
It makes me wish she was 10 again because I know with just a little more time she could be a 100 mile horse. But not at 17. I won't ask her to do that much at 17. I even worry a 50 is asking too much at her age, but she doesn't act 17 and she will tell me when it becomes too much and I know I will listen.
Point #2. I am getting better at remembering my Garmin. While it isn't perfect, it gives me a lot to work with.
My ride with S: we walked quite a bit. When we trotted Gem kept up for the first 5 or so miles, but wasn't able to as well for the last 3. Which is a conditioning problem and we can fix that with time. We also got some canter work in. Some by mistake as she tried to catch up to S (whose horse just glides at the trot and eats the ground up!) but S also cantered some as well. At the end we finished with a 3.5 mph pace.
My ride with T: we trotted pretty much the entire thing. We did my usual green loop although we took a couple different turns which shaved off about a half mile. We walked maybe a half mile total, if that. Gem did really well, even led at a trot and was not tired at all in the end. She didn't even break a sweat. Guess what? We averaged a 3.4 mph pace.
Huh.
This makes me think. I am not even sure what all implications this really has.
I like giving Gem's trotting muscles a break. Whether that is through cantering short sections or walking, either way her muscles get a break from the constant action of trotting down the trail. So in theory, the ride with S sits better with me. You don't actually have to trot the entire 50 miles. (Which I knew anyway, but this proves it to me). In fact, during my ride with S I mentioned my first ever LD and how we trotted the entire 25 miles. She commented that she doesn't like to ride like that and prefers to mix up the gaits more.
Of course this works super well when you are on a magic carpet of a mare whose walk is nice and fast and trot is even better to make up the miles and keep a better overall pace. Gem may be able to get better though with time.
But then when I look at how Gem fared with the two rides, it seems she prefers the ride with T. Slower, but steady trotting. She wasn't nearly as tired and didn't break a sweat.
Two other factors to bear in mind: this weekend we went 5.6 miles versus closer to 9 miles last weekend and it was 50 degrees and cloudy versus 65 and sunny with S. Also, the ride with S had a lot more hills in it. So that makes a big difference in her attitude, energy level and sweat at the end. I would wager than had we done 9 miles of trotting she would have been equally as tired at the end.
Maybe this all means nothing. Maybe it means a lot. I think more time, more miles and more tracking are in order to figure out how Gem actually likes to go down the trail. She is an all star eater and won't ever pass up the chance to nibble on the trail. I'm a little worried that she passes up every single creek and won't drink. She used to drink super well in the past, but then again we were going farther and faster. Hopefully she starts drinking more when she needs it.
April 5, 2014
Crockpot Cheesy Chicken and Rice
Ingredients
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 large onion, chopped (I use Vidalia)
- 1 -8 ounce box of rice, prepared
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- 1 – 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup (regular or fat free)
- 1 -15 ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
Instructions
- Place chicken in bottom of crockpot.
- Scatter chopped onion over top.
- Spoon cream soup over top of that.
- Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours.
- A few minutes before serving, add in cooked rice, corn, and cheese.
- Stir to combine, put cover on for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot
This recipe is awesome! Super easy, relatively healthy and W scarfed it down.
This is another Pinterest one. I liked it because W loves chicken, it has rice in it to be filling and we actually rarely cook with corn so it gives W a new veggie to eat.
I am not a fan of the "large" onion. Don't get me wrong I really like onions and Vidalia is my favorite type of onion. But a large onion can mean very different things to people and my large onion was definitely too large. It was way too onion-y. In retrospect, a large onion for only 4 chicken breasts seems excessive anyway. I would recommend cutting it in half or using a small/medium onion instead.
The only other issue I had with it was the timing. I filled the crockpot just as it said to. I turned it on low. 8 hours later and the chicken was still pink inside and a meat thermometer agreed it wasn't done yet. I think it actually took more like 9-10 hours on low to fully cook. Once it was done, the chicken was super tender and pulled apart really, really easily. I pulled the chicken and mixed in the remaining ingredients and cooked for 5 more minutes.
W wasn't too sure of it at first. I think the onion was too strong. He did eat it warm the first day. But then the second day he refused to eat even a single bite. That got him mac n cheese and ritz crackers for lunch at day care. Smart kid :)
But then we tried it cold and he loved it. I didn't like it cold so much, but he ate a ton of it cold.
____________________________________________________________________________
Pros:
Few ingredients = cheap
Super easy to make
Relatively healthy
Cons:
Took way longer to cook than claimed
Too much onion
Give it a try!! I don't think you will be disappointed.
April 4, 2014
Data
Aren't my post titles just so stimulating? I bet everyone wants to read one titled "Data". My brain is on overdrive though and so that is all you get. I close on the new practice in just 1 week and officially open it the week after that and I have so much to do and so little time to do it all. I work at my current practice, full time, right up until the Thursday before I open the new one. I need to get carpet, paint the entire 1700 sq foot building, and go through all the inventory. Oh and train my employee. Don't ask me how on earth I am going to get it all done by myself. The hubs will be of minimal help because he too is working full time and someone has to watch W. My parents were going to come down the week before it opens and help take down the old wallpaper and paint, but something came up and they can't anymore. So that just leaves me. I see a lot of super late nights and early mornings in my future.
I have been good at remembering the Garmin on my last 3 rides. Unfortunately I forgot to reset it between trail rides, but it still gives a decent idea of what we have been up to.
Trail ride # 1 (solo) was our usual 6 mile loop. My goal is to get her moving at an average 5 mph pace. Why? You have 12 hours to complete the 50 miles. Figure on 2 hours of hold time and that brings the actual riding time to 10 hours. 5 mph will get you there in just barely enough time as long as nothing goes wrong along the way. Unfortunately for us Gem has an incredibly slow walk. So while other horses that power down at a 4 mph walking pace and 10 mph trot have plenty of time to dawdle and can walk a lot of it and still finish, we need to keep our butts moving.
We averaged 3 mph on this solo trip which stinks, but is an improvement on the typical 2.5 mph pace we have. Slow but steady progress is the name of the game.
Trail ride #2 (with S) was just over 8 miles per the Garmin. I think it ends up dropping 0.5-1 mile along the way as it loses satellite connection and just connects the last known spot to the current one. But it is close enough. We managed a 3.5 mph pace on this ride which I am happy with because it had a lot of hills.
Looking at my map with the two trail rides combined we had a total 1,818 feet of elevation gain and just under that in loss (still have no clue how that works when you start and stop at the exact same spot) which is quite a bit for my mare. Up north we travelled on mostly flat trails and of course the arena is flat, so this much is a lot for her.
Our max pace was 15.5 mph which was when she went crashing through the woods to get away from the speed boat.
Her average trotting pace is creeping up to the 7 mph range which is awesome. If we could keep up a nice steady 7 mph trot and just bump the walk up from 2 mph to 3.5 - 4 mph I think we would be in business.
I also find it really interesting to look at the pace map in conjunction with the elevation map. While I am out on the trail I ask her to trot what I view as flat sections or easy hills. I don't ask her to trot downhill ever and I don't ask her to trot up the longer and steeper hills. Yet. When looking a the two maps, apparently either I am asking her to trot or she naturally goes faster up every single hill. Seriously. Every time there is a spike in her pace, there is a spike in the elevation. I know I am not that mean to her, so I believe at least some of those times she is doing it herself. And then it drops way slow every downhill which I am fine with.
I do think that part of our slow pace is that these trails are basically all up and down hills. There are practically no true flat sections. If we head off to a flat 50 miler I think we would do great. The 50 I am planning for is not this hilly, but still has some hills to it.
Arena ride: We kept our 5 mph average pace!! :) Actually our average total pace was 5 mph, but our average moving pace was 5.2 mph. Of course we only went for 22 minutes and covered just over 2 miles, but that is exactly what I want to use the arena for. Speed work. Slowly increasing the length of time spent at the faster pace should correlate to an overall faster pace out on the trails. She was breathing pretty hard after the canter sets, but she kept asking for more.
I am really happy with the way the last 3 rides have gone. I am hoping to get back on her Friday night for another arena work out. This weekend is going to be spent with trailer loading so no trail ride.
I have been good at remembering the Garmin on my last 3 rides. Unfortunately I forgot to reset it between trail rides, but it still gives a decent idea of what we have been up to.
Trail ride # 1 (solo) was our usual 6 mile loop. My goal is to get her moving at an average 5 mph pace. Why? You have 12 hours to complete the 50 miles. Figure on 2 hours of hold time and that brings the actual riding time to 10 hours. 5 mph will get you there in just barely enough time as long as nothing goes wrong along the way. Unfortunately for us Gem has an incredibly slow walk. So while other horses that power down at a 4 mph walking pace and 10 mph trot have plenty of time to dawdle and can walk a lot of it and still finish, we need to keep our butts moving.
We averaged 3 mph on this solo trip which stinks, but is an improvement on the typical 2.5 mph pace we have. Slow but steady progress is the name of the game.
Trail ride #2 (with S) was just over 8 miles per the Garmin. I think it ends up dropping 0.5-1 mile along the way as it loses satellite connection and just connects the last known spot to the current one. But it is close enough. We managed a 3.5 mph pace on this ride which I am happy with because it had a lot of hills.
Looking at my map with the two trail rides combined we had a total 1,818 feet of elevation gain and just under that in loss (still have no clue how that works when you start and stop at the exact same spot) which is quite a bit for my mare. Up north we travelled on mostly flat trails and of course the arena is flat, so this much is a lot for her.
Our max pace was 15.5 mph which was when she went crashing through the woods to get away from the speed boat.
Her average trotting pace is creeping up to the 7 mph range which is awesome. If we could keep up a nice steady 7 mph trot and just bump the walk up from 2 mph to 3.5 - 4 mph I think we would be in business.
I also find it really interesting to look at the pace map in conjunction with the elevation map. While I am out on the trail I ask her to trot what I view as flat sections or easy hills. I don't ask her to trot downhill ever and I don't ask her to trot up the longer and steeper hills. Yet. When looking a the two maps, apparently either I am asking her to trot or she naturally goes faster up every single hill. Seriously. Every time there is a spike in her pace, there is a spike in the elevation. I know I am not that mean to her, so I believe at least some of those times she is doing it herself. And then it drops way slow every downhill which I am fine with.
I do think that part of our slow pace is that these trails are basically all up and down hills. There are practically no true flat sections. If we head off to a flat 50 miler I think we would do great. The 50 I am planning for is not this hilly, but still has some hills to it.
Arena ride: We kept our 5 mph average pace!! :) Actually our average total pace was 5 mph, but our average moving pace was 5.2 mph. Of course we only went for 22 minutes and covered just over 2 miles, but that is exactly what I want to use the arena for. Speed work. Slowly increasing the length of time spent at the faster pace should correlate to an overall faster pace out on the trails. She was breathing pretty hard after the canter sets, but she kept asking for more.
I am really happy with the way the last 3 rides have gone. I am hoping to get back on her Friday night for another arena work out. This weekend is going to be spent with trailer loading so no trail ride.
April 3, 2014
Gem Redeems Herself
Well, kind of...sort of...
Tuesday night was magical at the barn. Gemmie and I were the only ones around except for the bats flying over head, the birds chirping off in the sunset and the barn cats using the arena as a litter box. It was still in the 70s as the sun was setting and the breeze alternated between refreshingly cool and refreshingly warm. As the sun set, there was a bright crescent moon rising. It was a night made to be at the barn.
Maybe Gem felt bad for her naughty behavior on Sunday. Maybe she was feeling good after the work out and day off. Maybe she had a stroke and forgot how she usually acts. Either way she actually walked right up to me in the pasture for the first time ever. And all I had in my hands was her bridle. No bright red bucket of treats (supplements).
Even in the fading light I could see how much better she is looking. I know it is in part due to her shedding that winter coat out, but I have to think the supplements are doing something. Her coat is beginning to gleam like it used to and I love a shiny horse. Some people just carve out a saddle shaped patch when the groom and I don't judge them for that. But I am downright anal about grooming her each and every time both before and after we ride. I check her over from head to toe, pick out her feet and make her shine. The only thing I am not anal about is her tail.
We walked over to the arena and I thought 30 minutes would be good. The footing is extremely deep in the arena. Part is due to how dry it is right now so the top layers are not getting packed down and the other part is how much traffic it now sees with trainer lady being there and giving lessons. With it being so soft and deep I worried about her bowing or tearing a tendon and so I didn't want to over do it. Plus I wanted a lighter work out after Sunday to start the week. If things go well this week I am hoping to get back on for a more rigorous arena ride Thurs or Fri and then I should get on the trails again this weekend, but instead will be trailer training.
I remembered my Garmin, climbed on board and hit start.
We walked around scaring off the barn cats for 5 minutes and then we started trotting. She gave a decent show of being scared of the jumps, the barrels, the fence, but I wasn't having any of it and she settle din nicely. Historically Gem doesn't care for deep sand. Our two LDs were on a lot of deep sandy trails and she spent the entire time hugging the side and ripping off pieces of my flesh on tree limbs. She wasn't particularly happy with the footing and I didn't even think to ask her to attempt the jumps in that footing.
About 15 minutes in she got tired of trot, trot, trotting and picked up a superbly lovely canter. It was uphill. It was smooth. And best of all it was rate-able. No rushing off on the forehand barely in control and taking corners as sharply as possible without completely falling over. She was steady, slow and calm and it was a gait I could have sat for hours. We worked both directions. I gave her lots of trot breaks, but she kept asking to canter. I think it was easier for her to canter in the footing versus trot and I also think her muscles get sore from so much trotting on the trail so the arena is a nice place to canter. She is more efficient a the canter as well and back in my heart rate monitor usage days, 9 times out of 10 her rate drops in the canter versus trot.
She managed to work up a nice sweat and was breathing pretty good so at 20 minutes I called it cool out time. I didn't want to put her out sweaty for the night. We walked around cooling out and I debated about un tacking her and riding bareback for a bit. Even if I fell off the footing was inviting enough that it wouldn't hurt too bad. But I decided against it and called it a night.
She was a little sweaty and I let her cool out next to the trailer before giving her her supplements. She eats the powder plain (ick). I mix Pete his with a couple crunched up alfalfa cubes because he is a normal horse and won't eat the plain powder. When I put Gemmie out, I took Pete's with me a fed him.
It was a night to renew my faith in my gorgeous mare. She always does this. I just need to remember how far we have come and all she has put me through. She tests the waters and then the next ride it is like she realizes she pushed me too far and is a saint. Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't have my heads in the cloud with the trailering issue. I know she won't load without a ton of work. But I can ignore that until the weekend and for now bask in the glow of a wonderful night with my mare.
Tuesday night was magical at the barn. Gemmie and I were the only ones around except for the bats flying over head, the birds chirping off in the sunset and the barn cats using the arena as a litter box. It was still in the 70s as the sun was setting and the breeze alternated between refreshingly cool and refreshingly warm. As the sun set, there was a bright crescent moon rising. It was a night made to be at the barn.
Maybe Gem felt bad for her naughty behavior on Sunday. Maybe she was feeling good after the work out and day off. Maybe she had a stroke and forgot how she usually acts. Either way she actually walked right up to me in the pasture for the first time ever. And all I had in my hands was her bridle. No bright red bucket of treats (supplements).
Even in the fading light I could see how much better she is looking. I know it is in part due to her shedding that winter coat out, but I have to think the supplements are doing something. Her coat is beginning to gleam like it used to and I love a shiny horse. Some people just carve out a saddle shaped patch when the groom and I don't judge them for that. But I am downright anal about grooming her each and every time both before and after we ride. I check her over from head to toe, pick out her feet and make her shine. The only thing I am not anal about is her tail.
We walked over to the arena and I thought 30 minutes would be good. The footing is extremely deep in the arena. Part is due to how dry it is right now so the top layers are not getting packed down and the other part is how much traffic it now sees with trainer lady being there and giving lessons. With it being so soft and deep I worried about her bowing or tearing a tendon and so I didn't want to over do it. Plus I wanted a lighter work out after Sunday to start the week. If things go well this week I am hoping to get back on for a more rigorous arena ride Thurs or Fri and then I should get on the trails again this weekend, but instead will be trailer training.
I remembered my Garmin, climbed on board and hit start.
We walked around scaring off the barn cats for 5 minutes and then we started trotting. She gave a decent show of being scared of the jumps, the barrels, the fence, but I wasn't having any of it and she settle din nicely. Historically Gem doesn't care for deep sand. Our two LDs were on a lot of deep sandy trails and she spent the entire time hugging the side and ripping off pieces of my flesh on tree limbs. She wasn't particularly happy with the footing and I didn't even think to ask her to attempt the jumps in that footing.
About 15 minutes in she got tired of trot, trot, trotting and picked up a superbly lovely canter. It was uphill. It was smooth. And best of all it was rate-able. No rushing off on the forehand barely in control and taking corners as sharply as possible without completely falling over. She was steady, slow and calm and it was a gait I could have sat for hours. We worked both directions. I gave her lots of trot breaks, but she kept asking to canter. I think it was easier for her to canter in the footing versus trot and I also think her muscles get sore from so much trotting on the trail so the arena is a nice place to canter. She is more efficient a the canter as well and back in my heart rate monitor usage days, 9 times out of 10 her rate drops in the canter versus trot.
She managed to work up a nice sweat and was breathing pretty good so at 20 minutes I called it cool out time. I didn't want to put her out sweaty for the night. We walked around cooling out and I debated about un tacking her and riding bareback for a bit. Even if I fell off the footing was inviting enough that it wouldn't hurt too bad. But I decided against it and called it a night.
She was a little sweaty and I let her cool out next to the trailer before giving her her supplements. She eats the powder plain (ick). I mix Pete his with a couple crunched up alfalfa cubes because he is a normal horse and won't eat the plain powder. When I put Gemmie out, I took Pete's with me a fed him.
It was a night to renew my faith in my gorgeous mare. She always does this. I just need to remember how far we have come and all she has put me through. She tests the waters and then the next ride it is like she realizes she pushed me too far and is a saint. Oh, don't get me wrong. I don't have my heads in the cloud with the trailering issue. I know she won't load without a ton of work. But I can ignore that until the weekend and for now bask in the glow of a wonderful night with my mare.
April 2, 2014
Sunday...A Tale of Two Emotions..Part 2
Thank goodness for wonderful, nice sincere and kind people. Or Gem would have had a much longer conditioning ride than she wanted.
I'm meeting a new friend. I have to be at the trail head by 10:30 am. I give myself an entire hour to get Gem, groom and load. A process that should take 30 minutes max. Until she decides to draw a line in the sand and refuse to get on the stinking trailer. The exact same trailer she has gotten on countless times.
It wasn't completely unforeseen. Ever since she started going out alone she has gotten more and more resistant to getting on the trailer. If another horse is on, then she walks right on no problem. And once we get to where we are going she is fine. But this time she really had it in mind that she wasn't getting on the trailer.
I think in retrospect with my hindsight glasses on hooking the trailer up the night before was a bad idea. Gemmie watched us do it from the pasture. And then I went out to the pasture to feed her the supplements. Which she greedily chomped down and then walked away all proud of herself for avoiding actual work. And then she had alllll night to stew about the trailer being hooked up.
It took the hubs and I plus the addition of a fellow boarder 35 minutes to get her to load. I texted S and let her know and off we went to ride.
Thank goodness the ride was great or the entire day would have been a disaster.
When we got back to the trailer in the parking lot Gem refused to even walk over to be tied and un tacked. I eventually coaxed her over and knew then this wasn't going to be pretty. S stuck around which was beyond nice of her. She could easily (and rightfully) gone home and left this stranger with her bad horse to fend for themselves, but as it was she stayed put.
I tried everything I could think of to get her on the trailer. I tried a butt rope. Nope. I tried coaxing. Nope. I tried food. Nope. S came over to help and we tried zig zagging her slowly up to it. No. I tried backing her up as quickly as I could. Nope. I tried lunging her to get her attention. Nope. I tried poking her with the handle of a pitch fork. Nope. I even tried backing her onto the darn thing. Nope. The stubborn mule would stand all four feet on the darn ramp, lift up a hind hoof to rest, chew and half close her eyes. She wasn't scared of it. Just didn't want to get on.
2 hours later and poor W was beyond tired and starving and so were we. A trail ride that should have had me back home by 1:30 or 2 at the latest allowing for other important things to get done was now heading into the 3 o clock hour and we were still at the trail head.
Options:
By the end I was extremely embarrassed to end our ride this way, frustrated beyond belief with Gem, questioning her suitability for this sport/life and wondering what on earth to do about it. S gave me the number of her dressage coach and I called but haven't heard back. I may try again, but my barn also has a trainer lady and I am going to ask her how much she would charge.
I posted the question to the endurance forum and got a lot of variations on the same theme. Most people said use a rope either behind her butt or around her barrel and take it out the front of the trailer. Stand with a whip or something else long and tap tap tap her butt if she stops or goes back. Each time she moves forward stop. She will learn that the only way to avoid the tapping is to get on the trailer. Others suggested lunging her every time she moves away from the trailer making it once again easier to just get on. I'm not sure what I am going to do, but I am going to dedicate a whole day this weekend to doing this. I will wait her out. She will get on that trailer!!!
I'm meeting a new friend. I have to be at the trail head by 10:30 am. I give myself an entire hour to get Gem, groom and load. A process that should take 30 minutes max. Until she decides to draw a line in the sand and refuse to get on the stinking trailer. The exact same trailer she has gotten on countless times.
It wasn't completely unforeseen. Ever since she started going out alone she has gotten more and more resistant to getting on the trailer. If another horse is on, then she walks right on no problem. And once we get to where we are going she is fine. But this time she really had it in mind that she wasn't getting on the trailer.
I think in retrospect with my hindsight glasses on hooking the trailer up the night before was a bad idea. Gemmie watched us do it from the pasture. And then I went out to the pasture to feed her the supplements. Which she greedily chomped down and then walked away all proud of herself for avoiding actual work. And then she had alllll night to stew about the trailer being hooked up.
It took the hubs and I plus the addition of a fellow boarder 35 minutes to get her to load. I texted S and let her know and off we went to ride.
Thank goodness the ride was great or the entire day would have been a disaster.
When we got back to the trailer in the parking lot Gem refused to even walk over to be tied and un tacked. I eventually coaxed her over and knew then this wasn't going to be pretty. S stuck around which was beyond nice of her. She could easily (and rightfully) gone home and left this stranger with her bad horse to fend for themselves, but as it was she stayed put.
I tried everything I could think of to get her on the trailer. I tried a butt rope. Nope. I tried coaxing. Nope. I tried food. Nope. S came over to help and we tried zig zagging her slowly up to it. No. I tried backing her up as quickly as I could. Nope. I tried lunging her to get her attention. Nope. I tried poking her with the handle of a pitch fork. Nope. I even tried backing her onto the darn thing. Nope. The stubborn mule would stand all four feet on the darn ramp, lift up a hind hoof to rest, chew and half close her eyes. She wasn't scared of it. Just didn't want to get on.
2 hours later and poor W was beyond tired and starving and so were we. A trail ride that should have had me back home by 1:30 or 2 at the latest allowing for other important things to get done was now heading into the 3 o clock hour and we were still at the trail head.
Options:
- Ride her butt home to teach her that a trailer ride was much, much easier. But this wasn't going to happen because the only way I knew to get back to the barn was along major roads which wouldn't have been safe.
- Unload S's patient mare and put her on my trailer, load Gem and then unload S's mare. But then S said that her mare won't back out of a trailer, so there went that.
- Put Gem on S's trailer and have her follow us home and drop Gem off. Unfortunately, this meant a super out of the way trip for S.
By the end I was extremely embarrassed to end our ride this way, frustrated beyond belief with Gem, questioning her suitability for this sport/life and wondering what on earth to do about it. S gave me the number of her dressage coach and I called but haven't heard back. I may try again, but my barn also has a trainer lady and I am going to ask her how much she would charge.
I posted the question to the endurance forum and got a lot of variations on the same theme. Most people said use a rope either behind her butt or around her barrel and take it out the front of the trailer. Stand with a whip or something else long and tap tap tap her butt if she stops or goes back. Each time she moves forward stop. She will learn that the only way to avoid the tapping is to get on the trailer. Others suggested lunging her every time she moves away from the trailer making it once again easier to just get on. I'm not sure what I am going to do, but I am going to dedicate a whole day this weekend to doing this. I will wait her out. She will get on that trailer!!!
April 1, 2014
Sorry For The Interruption
I'm going to interrupt my two part Gem story for something else and get back to it tomorrow.
Last night was a crummy night. We have a senior citizen living with us - Hero, my 14 year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. He is the man. He is one of those once in a lifetime dogs and while I have another dog currently (Bones, a 7 year old Doberman/Great Dane mix) and will have others in the future, nobody will come close to Hero.
For some reason I've always had it in my mind that he will live to 15 and that I will be okay with it when his times comes because 15 is a long time. As each year has passed I have said, no big deal I still get 4 years with him, 2 years with him etc... but when he turned 14 in February I realized even with my totally artificial timeline it meant only 1 year. I make the best of every day I have with him and for the most part you would never know I got him for my 18th birthday and I am now turning 32. He goes on hikes in the woods with us, plays a lot and is generally in a good mood and in good form.
But starting back in December he began this really odd anxiety/panic attack like behavior. I'm not convinced he isn't bordering on a seizure and just never gets there. His whole body shakes, he pants, and he won't stop pacing. He won't lay down or get comfortable. It happens intermittently and we thought it was due to over exertion. He was tired and sore and this was what ensued. In fact it almost always happens in the middle of night. In truth he is getting senile and will wander off and get freaked out and so we thought it could also be due to him waking up, not recognizing where he is and freaking out. He is on a dose of anxiety meds at night and when it happens we also give him Rimadyl in case it is pain based. And it goes away in short order.
He started again last night. I'm not sure when, but I know I woke up to it at 2 am. He was panting, pacing, shaking and asking to get on the bed. But if you put him on the bed he can't get down so he just paces on top of your face and pants until you put him down. Rimadyl did no good. An extra anxiety pill did no good. Benadryl did no good. He paced and paced and paced. We put him outside to see if the cooler night air would help. Nope. At 4 am the hubs took him for a car ride to go buy W some milk to see if that would help settle him. Nope. Finally we gave up at 530 am and got around for the day. He of course fell asleep when the hubs was in the shower.
So Hero went off to work with the hubs to have xrays and blood work and see what is going on. The hubs has asked his boss for an opinion in the past with the same reply "that's odd". Maybe we need valium at home for him when he does this. It isn't even all that often. Maybe two times a month but it is sad because you just can't do anything to calm him down.
Keep us in your thoughts and lets hope everything comes back normal. Hopefully we can keep these to a minimum and keep moving on down the road.
Last night was a crummy night. We have a senior citizen living with us - Hero, my 14 year old Cardigan Welsh Corgi. He is the man. He is one of those once in a lifetime dogs and while I have another dog currently (Bones, a 7 year old Doberman/Great Dane mix) and will have others in the future, nobody will come close to Hero.
For some reason I've always had it in my mind that he will live to 15 and that I will be okay with it when his times comes because 15 is a long time. As each year has passed I have said, no big deal I still get 4 years with him, 2 years with him etc... but when he turned 14 in February I realized even with my totally artificial timeline it meant only 1 year. I make the best of every day I have with him and for the most part you would never know I got him for my 18th birthday and I am now turning 32. He goes on hikes in the woods with us, plays a lot and is generally in a good mood and in good form.
But starting back in December he began this really odd anxiety/panic attack like behavior. I'm not convinced he isn't bordering on a seizure and just never gets there. His whole body shakes, he pants, and he won't stop pacing. He won't lay down or get comfortable. It happens intermittently and we thought it was due to over exertion. He was tired and sore and this was what ensued. In fact it almost always happens in the middle of night. In truth he is getting senile and will wander off and get freaked out and so we thought it could also be due to him waking up, not recognizing where he is and freaking out. He is on a dose of anxiety meds at night and when it happens we also give him Rimadyl in case it is pain based. And it goes away in short order.
He started again last night. I'm not sure when, but I know I woke up to it at 2 am. He was panting, pacing, shaking and asking to get on the bed. But if you put him on the bed he can't get down so he just paces on top of your face and pants until you put him down. Rimadyl did no good. An extra anxiety pill did no good. Benadryl did no good. He paced and paced and paced. We put him outside to see if the cooler night air would help. Nope. At 4 am the hubs took him for a car ride to go buy W some milk to see if that would help settle him. Nope. Finally we gave up at 530 am and got around for the day. He of course fell asleep when the hubs was in the shower.
So Hero went off to work with the hubs to have xrays and blood work and see what is going on. The hubs has asked his boss for an opinion in the past with the same reply "that's odd". Maybe we need valium at home for him when he does this. It isn't even all that often. Maybe two times a month but it is sad because you just can't do anything to calm him down.
Keep us in your thoughts and lets hope everything comes back normal. Hopefully we can keep these to a minimum and keep moving on down the road.
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