It's been a while ...

but I figure I should update everyone again on how the boys are doing.

The last time I worked with either horse was back on April 2nd, I think. It's honestly been a while but thankfully both boys are doing fabulous out at B's. It's very reassuring to know that I can be gone for a week and not have to worry about them. Even though it's in my nature to worry about them, regardless.

Before I forget, here's photos of Gus's hooves from his last trim, which was March 14th. These photos were taken a week later on the 21st.

His next trim is on April 25th. I'm hoping to pull the snow pads AND borium studs by then. Kinda glad I left them on for this last round, as we just got dumped with another 6+ inches of snow here on Wednesday and the forecast is calling for another 6 to 9 inches by Sunday. Great. Love living in the midwest ... not.

Gringo's doing pretty fabulous as well. He was supposed to be trimmed by J on Wednesday, but due to the lovely snowstorm, she had to reschedule. Totally understandable. So, not sure if he's actually been done yet or not. She was going to let me know when she was out but I haven't heard anything yet. I'm thinking if she hasn't done him already, it'll likely be early this next week.

Riding has definitely become more of a challenge as of late. On Sunday, I'll officially be 27 weeks pregnant - and only three months til Baby B is due. Not sure if Baby is a boy or girl as we opted to not find out. So instead, we're calling it Baby B. My mom call's it "Lexi", one of my favorite nicknames for Alexanderia. My BIL calls it his "nicefew" - short for niece/nephew. Pretty cleaver, if I do say so myself.

So, with riding, it's been interesting. I have been limiting myself to mostly walking, with some trot and/or canter thrown in IF I feel balanced enough to try. Unfortunately, carrying all this extra weight around makes it hard for me to balance. I can definitely no longer get up into the saddle from the ground. Mounting blocks are a life saver (and a Gus.back.saver). Dismounting involves using the near-side stirrup ... but it's still very much doable. I'm hoping having the last two weeks or so off won't make matters worse when I go to ride again. I'd like to keep riding for as long as I can. But we'll see. My body will let me know when it's no longer feasible.

I know I've said it before, but I'm going to try hard to keep this blog updated on a more regular basis ... hopefully I can make good on that promise.

First Trail Ride of the New Year!

Well, today it was FINALLY nice enough (and I was off work in time) to have a quick ride outside. It's a muddy, wet mess outside, but that didn't stop me or Gus. We had a nice ride out on the gravel roads today ... probably did about a mile or two over the course of about 30 minutes. Gus was a VERY GOOD boy, as usual. There is definitely something to be said when you can pull a horse out of the pasture, tack him up, and ride outside like you've been doing it all winter long. Love my ol' man.

So, I did end up putting Gus and Gringo in lighter-weight blankets. Gringo, actually, is running around now in his Centaur sheet. Gus has his Centaur sheet on along with an ancient blanket ... so about 100g or so of fill total.

Both boys are still shedding out like crazy, which is a very good thing. Hopefully after a couple more weeks, they'll both be done shedding out. That would be absolutely AMAZING.

Updates ... A bit overdue.

Okay. So life has been super, duper busy as of late and the boys have (unfortunately) been on the back-burner.

Gus had his hooves trimmed last on March 14th and I *think* things are still looking good for him. He's still sporting full bar shoes + full snow pads + borium studs, but I'm hoping to remove the pads and borium next shoe cycle. Hopefully by then, end of April, we'll be done with snow and ice. If not, we'll I'm moving south! I'll try to get photos posted soon ... they are stuck on my cell phone at the moment, as usual.

Gringo's hooves still seem to be doing okay too. He's dealing with some on and off thrushy issues - so when I think of it, I do try to use of the mastitis ointment (Tomorrow) in the the crevices to ward off any more infection. His last trim was back on February 27th, I'm guessing he'll get done again sometime the beginning part of April. He's still barefoot and reasonably sound.

As far as workload goes, both boys have had it really easy as of late. I've done a couple rides on Gus over the last two weeks and both times he truly was a trooper. He still looks to be fairly sound, abit stiff, but he does work through his issues. Gringo has had it super, duper easy. He's been ponied twice off Gus in the last couple weeks. Despite not having attempted this in months, he was a pretty decent boy. Although he thought it would be more fun to start a fight with Gus, he did at least listen to me and acted like the 10 year old he is - eventually.

I'll try to start blogging a bit more regularly again soon. At least I really hope to.

Gus ... Confuses me.

Well, the last time I rode Gus was last Thursday, February 28th. We did our usual routine and he just didn't seem 100% right. It probably had A LOT to do with the fact that I didn't have spurs on OR a crop with me. So the forward button was entirely my leg - which Gus is fairly dull to. Oh well.

It also didn't help that B starting lunging her young gelding just as we were finishing our warmup - so we didn't have access to the entire arena. Instead, we had the rail and only one end to work with. I was not fully satisfied with our trot work so I'm hoping when I get the opportunity to get to the barn again, it'll be much improved - or at least better then it was the last time.

Because of our lovely snow storm, I'm not sure when I'll make it out to the barn next. The way it looks right now, it probably won't be until Friday. I don't work til later tomorrow, but we're supposed to get another dumping of snow overnight tonight. Yippee skippy. Not. Then, I'm stuck working long days on both Wednesday AND Thursday. I desperately need my therapy ... should've gone to the barn yesterday. Kicking myself for skipping out on that.

Gringo's Footsies

Well ... nothing has changed too much here in Minnesota. It's March 4th and winter is still hanging on. As I type, we're in the midst of another winter storm. This one is named Saturn. Lovely, huh?

Anyways, Gringo had his hooves trimmed again this past Wednesday. So here's the shots, like usual.

Not sure what's with the "bump" about midway up the hoof wall ... odd.

And he's got a real odd "bullnose" sorta bump going on here. I guess I need to keep an eye on this.

Good news is, J said the thrush is going away. So the plan is to keep using the mastitis ointment frequently in hopes of clearing up all his thrushy issues. 

In other Gringo news, nothing has really gone on with him, as of late. He's shedding like crazy - hence all the Gringo hair in the above photos. It's IMPOSSIBLE to get all of it swept up. 

I haven't done a lot of work with Gringo lately, either. But he's such a good boy that he literally leaves right were we left off. I do need to start committing to him more frequently. I keep saying that, but honestly, I need to act on it. He deserves it. 

Woot. Woot.

I had another great ride on Gus today. Same ol' warmup as usual - lunge work followed by shoulder stretches undersaddle plus the 10m half circles. Gus was really acting oddly today though. I do think his eyes are starting to bother him more and more though. He kept flinching when we went by the arena windows and the sunlight hit his eye ... definitely knew that eventually his sight would start to fail, but hopefully he overcomes this new obstacle like he does everything else.

Our trot work started off with 3-loop serpentines. Then I did the 20m, 15m, 10m spiral circles at B/E. We did this same exercise a couple months back and it really helps get Gus to sit down and work off his haunches. Gus definitely still wants to travel on his forehand, but thankfully if we slow down and I raise my hands up (think "saddleseat" hands) I can get Gus to rock back on his hindend and work properly.

Canter work wasn't anything special today. Just a 20m circle plus half a trip around the arena. Me and baby (yup, I'm expecting my first in July ... officially 20 weeks today!!!) just can't handle the rocking motion of the canter anymore. Gus was a good sport though and he had nice, clean transitions. I think canter work will mainly be on the lunge, least for the time being.

Surprisingly enough, I can now comfortably sit the trot again. Posting trot is nearly impossible ... can't get myself and my big butt (and belly) out of the saddle. So I just work on tightening my core and absorbing the bounce there. Seemed to help a lot and I thought our trot work was much improved, all things considered.

Gringo didn't get worked today, but he did get a nice, long grooming session. He is shedding like there's no tomorrow. It's ridiculous! I probably took off a small waste basket full of hair today. Gringo's always been an early shedder ... so that's nothing new. I just don't want to bring all of his hair home with me, especially considering that he's got grey hair and the interior of my car is black. Uggh.

Another day of success.

Today was another successful day out at the barn. I worked with Gus first and he was truly a superstar. He started off pretty rough again - very stiff with an up/down movement versus down/out movement but eventually he did work out of it.

Our under saddle work was the same basic principles as last time. We warmed up with some 10m figure-8 circles (we did the whole arena twice) followed up by another 1 1/2 laps of shoulder stretches, both directions. Once that was done, I asked for the trot. Trot work was interesting ... today Gus didn't attempt to avoid contact, but he didn't want to slow down and do a more "jog trot". I did eventually get him to sit down on his hind end and slow down, but it was definitely something I had to keep asking for.

So, for our trot work we ended up doing mainly 3-loop serpentines, at least to start with. That progressed to a few 20m circles and some long-sides.

Canter work was short and very sweet. I just wanted to see what I had to work with. I asked for the right lead canter first ... in the corner going into the short side of the arena. Gus was very obedient and picked up the lead right way. But it was a bit of a hot mess. Very unbalanced and kinda four-beated. Going to the left, I asked for the canter in the same spot and it was much more of a normal canter, least what's "normal" for Gus.

I ended Gus's work out on that note ... after asking for another couple trot laps. He was such a good boy today. Our workout consisted of 15 minutes of lunge work and 25 minutes of under saddle work. The goal is to slowly start working more and with greater intensity to get his strength built back up. I hope I can get there.

Gringo was a really good boy today too, all things considered. He was lame on the lunge to start with, so I opted to go right away to ground driving versus lunging first. Boy, he was just a mess ground driving though. I decided to work on leg yields again, as it's something that is difficult for Gringo (whereas most things he picks up right away). Well, they are still just a mess. He's much, much better leg yielding to the right then he is to the left, but he's still just a mess. Oh well.

We did have some fabulous half-halts though. Gringo was very, very quick to pick up that new command a few weeks back, in his last lesson. So I like to use it often ... although sometimes he's too quick and totally drops down a gait. But, at least he's thinking and hearing me. That's ALWAYS a plus.

At the end of our ground driving session, which was done exclusively at the walk, I did ask for the trot again to see if Gringo worked out of his lameness. And he looked like he had, least for the most part. So we did a few trot laps... working on getting him down and round and moving slowly. He did a FABULOUS job. Very, very proud of Gringo today. I honestly haven't worked with him in seriously, like 2 weeks. Glad this boy remembers things REALLY well.

Both boys had a new experience this afternoon. I used the shop vac and actually vacuumed both boys. Gus was a pro, like I knew he'd be. But Gringo surprised me. He was SO good. He was more afraid of the cord then he was of the really loud noise. Goofy horse. But I was happy to know I can use the shop vac in the future. Now to just figure how to blow instead of suck. Then I can blow out Gringo's winter coat, instead of brushing it out. :-)