It's Louisville week!

I'm not showing, but I'm driving down Thursday and staying through stake night. I plan on having a blast :)

Duke has been doing really well - After two shows that I had to skip the championships because of his leg (he just can't stay on hard ground overnight after working - he never went lame, but he swelled up enough that I wouldn't risk it) we had a good qualifier at State Fair, but a not-so-good championship - Big Boy was too wound up to really set his head. We have another show the week after Louisville, but I'm not sure what to show in - part of me likes showing him in driving, but the rest of me craves riding like a junkie craves a fix. Got a good picture though!


Skinny is finally up to a good weight, so now it's time to really build up his muscles. I worry about pushing him too hard, because I've heard stories about horses that were starved having weak hearts for the rest of their lives, but he's too young to not be put back to work. I think he could make a first-class hunt horse, although I'm waiting until his front end is built up before we start doing more than ground-poles on our road to jump training!

Ramora is a bit of a pest. She wears her surcingle beautifully, and is getting better about taking the bit, but she refuses to lunge in the clockwise direction! I've tried teaching her the same way I taught Belle (small circles within arm length, gradually enlarging the circle as she gets more comfortable), but she doesn't get it! Every time I move to her right side and try to give her direction, she just looks at me like "no no stupid human, you're on the wrong side!" And until she's lunging well and is set firmly with her voice commands, I can't start long-lining her. I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard.

Everything else has been the same as ever. Now it's time for me to stop being lazy and get the kids working every day for the last three shows of the year!

Back in the Saddle

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks. Slacked off in the barn in April because I went to Arizona for my birthday, and would therefore miss what I had planned on being my first show of the year, but came back ready to do business!

Duke has been doing well, and finally got his show shoes back on last week. I was considering just leaving him in plates and going in SP anyways (and before people congratulate me on going the "natural" route, it wasn't a political decision to keep plates on, merely a lazy one), but the higher angle is better for his tendon.

Skinny is gaining weight nicely and I'm starting to lunge him more seriously to build up is muscles, and I think I'm going to start long-lining him in a few days. Hopefully he will be built up enough to be ridden in a few weeks, and I would love to have him in the ring this year (but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen - no rush!)

Ramora (the yearling) has had her first few days in the surcingle (with crupper!), and is taking to it like a pro. Now that she lets me girth it up we're going to start lunging in it, and hopefully start lining next week. Her 2y/o buddy Belle gets to start long-lining again too this week, so things should be fun!

I'm also going to attempt to show Roy this year as a driving horse. He's a gorgeous critter, but at 14.2 he's much too small for me to ride. Also, the blinkers on the driving harness give me the added bonus of not having to super-glue his fake eye on!

Well that's all for now, just felt like I should update since I haven't had a chance to in a while!

Equine Affaire, and a sad loss.

I'll start with the loss: My aunt made the hard decision to put down her old mare Anna on Parade yesterday. Anna was 26, and had been slowly declining for about three months. As of last week something was very wrong with her hip, and although she was bright and alert, the choice was made to let her go because she was in pain. Anna, on top of having been a very nice Park mare in her younger years, was the mother of Heiress on Parade/Frankie (who we lost to colic a few years ago), and Radiant Roy, our somewhat infamous one-eyed pony. She will be missed.



On a much happier note, Duke and I participated in this year's Equine Affaire this past weekend, both in the breed demo and the petting stall. Duke was a hit in the petting stall, partially because he's big and white and sweet, and partially because he's a mooch for peppermints! In the breed demo we demonstrated In Hand, showing off his conformation. I wish I could have had a tailer, because without one Du' doesn't get very flashy, but we didn't want to give people the impression that Saddlebreds are so crazy that they need two handlers.

Kristi Pike (a friend and fellow AOT) was kind enough to take some pictures using my camera. She's not familiar with DSLR's so I made sure to turn on the Auto-focus and the Vibration Reduction features, but stupid here forgot to increase the shutter speed which means that almost everything is too blurry! This picture from the end turned out pretty well though, although I wish his ears were up!

Almost April

Which is going to be rolling in with a week of wonderfully warm weather! Big Guy's exercise program has been coming along, with a few hits and misses. If he has even the slightest heat in his tendon I scrap riding in favor of groundwork, and if we are stuck riding in the barn he gets cranky, and will even canter indoors (which I know I shouldn't let him do on his own, but I miss going faster!). And on a 100ft straightaway, it can be a bit scary how quickly that opposite door appears!

The first day we got to ride outside, Duke was so wound-up that he bounced the whole time: he was very polite about it and was very very slow (a piaffe at times), but he would not flat walk for more than a step or two. He really wants to get going, and so do I! I'm hoping for the ring to be dried out again this week so that we can go out again - we've had rain and even a night of snow for the past week and right now the ring is a swamp.

Our horse show cart should be ready soon from being refinished (the pony cart is done, and Julie is picking it up tomorrow - no more ugly green!), and I just need to find the tire-pump for the jog cart tires, and we will be all ready to start light jogging and our debut in Pleasure Driving this year!



Oh yeah, before I go: Duke is going to be in the Breed Demo Stall at Equine Affaire April 8-11. If you are going to be attending, come and say hi!

Back in the saddle!

I've had the go-ahead from the Vets to put Duke back to light work a month ago, and we've been doing ground work, but I'd been waiting to ride until the snow was gone. Well, since it looks like the snow is going to melt some time in August at this rate, I bit the bullet and saddled up today to ride up and down our barn aisle.

Duke was wonderful! He didn't do any of the cinch-bound things he has done in the past, and he listened to me perfectly, which after almost 8 months off was something I was a little worried about! I was so proud that he remembered all the things he was supposed to, I only wish he'd forgotten how to nudge me off the mounting block!

Being back up on him made me so happy, and now I'm starting to be a lot less pessimistic about our prospects this upcoming season. Maybe we'll even be in good enough shape to participate in the breed demonstration at Equine Affaire (I've already volunteered him as a breed ambassador for the booth, but it would be nice to be able to strut our stuff too), but it also depends on if the show cart will be back from being re-finished.

And now for some news about the rest of the happy bunch:
Skinny is outside now, where he can walk around at will and eat hay constantly. If that doesn't put weight on him, nothing will! Nut is at another barn for work in an indoor and Boo is down in Kentucky for training, so Belle and Ramora were both lonely. Now they are stabled next to each other, and have a grand time running like mad in the snow. Adam got a haircut today, and his bridle-path and forelock were so long I'm considering sending the hair to Locks of Love to be made into a wig!

One last thing: Toby, the gaited horse, has such fluffy soft hair as a winter coat - he feels like one of those very expensive plush toys!

That's all from Saddlebredland for now!

When will spring get here?

Well, the verdict from the Vets was that Duke can go back to light work, and see how things progress. Small problem: like most of the mid-west and east coast, we had the sky open up on us! We don't have an indoor, and I don't want to try working outside with the amount of snow we still have left. So right now we're hand-walking, doing turn-outs, and generally twiddling thumbs until the snow melts.

I hate February!

We get the verdict tomorrow...

Tomorrow is Duke's ultrasound to determine if he's ready to go back to work after six months off. Wish us luck!