Lessons 4, 5, and 6 – and PROGRESS!

Time flies when you're having fun – and even when you're not.

Stella and I had our fourth lesson with Lisa (above) the day after my last post, and then took two weeks off because of the horribly smokey air from the wildfires that started on Labor Day and shortly after. I continued to do little bits of homework with Stella, but not a lot; even though she had to be out in it, I did not. But I started to get a little stir crazy so we started working together more and went ahead with a lesson on the 16th; you can see the dingy yellow haze that cast a pall on everything (below). But it sure was fun watching "Lisa the apple dispenser" work with Stella on accepting the tarp! (Walking on it was no big deal; picking it up and putting it against and ON her was something else altogether.) I love the end of that video.

Lisa said at the end of that lesson that she thought Stella was about ready to do circles with me on her, since she is fine with me sitting on her as part of our fence work (my views from her back, below). Given how very quick she is and how reactive she is when things fall off her, I didn't think so! We are talking about hauling Stella somewhere to take a long-lining lesson with Suzan Davis Atkinson, since she really seems happy to be ground-driven and I've seen Suzan do some amazing training that way.

On the night of the 17th we had a glorious hours-long thunderstorm with abundant rain that scrubbed everything clean again and quelled the dust in the arena. Stella and I went back to work in earnest, adding trailer loading practice to our homework. Loading her up to bring her home at the end of December was only her second time in a trailer, and I haven't loaded her since. Taking a cue from Lisa's tarp work, I used apples as a reward, and she's been great.

We also kept working on her reactivity to things on and falling off her. Now if she's standing still, no reaction. If she's moving, she still reacts.

Lisa had asked me if I had a surcingle so I borrowed one and we introduced it in this week's lesson. Putting it on was no big deal since Stella's been saddled a lot; learning to work from a line run through one of its rings took some adjustment. The benefits were quickly apparent, though.

Then Lisa pulled the line out of the ring. Oops; omething else to work on!


After that we moved on to fence work, and Lisa suggested we ask her to move. Lo and behold, I got to RIDE my mare; so exciting!


Lisa explained how I can continue this mounted work at home alone. I didn't have time today to try it because of work and a dog agility class, but hope to tomorrow. The progress we've made in just six lessons plus homework is exciting!

Meanwhile, Lance watches all this from his paddock and makes it clear he's frustrated about being left out. He's had two shockwave treatments (out of three) so far, on 9/2 and 9/21, and is no longer lame. Twice now he's escaped from his stall while Rick cleaned his paddock (Brian knew better than to leave Lance's door ajar – and now Rick does, too). The first time to my alarm he took off bucking but didn't seem worse for his shenanigans; the second time he was much more sedate – I think he had used up all his excess energy. I was amazed and thankful that he didn't seem to suffer during that period of terrible air quality.

I choose to be thankful...

...that I got in one good ride this week!

My Sunday was otherwise occupied, in part making those chocolate-covered cranberries to take to our dressage chapter's Christmas party that afternoon. I have been fighting a cold generously shared by my husband last week, and by the end of the party I had completely lost my voice.

Monday I still had no voice (still don't), but felt pretty good otherwise and took advantage of some time to ride. I got a little start as I approached the barn to find Ollie loose:

Apparently I didn't latch his stall door after refilling his stock tank that morning. This must have been his first look around outside, because INside the barn he had sampled all the hay, left a steaming pile, and found the bucket of apples I picked for Lance's riding rewards:

After Ollie was secured, Lance and I had a lovely schooling session. And that looks like the only one we'll be getting in for awhile. I had to work on Tuesday and take my MIL to Portland today, and came home to snow, slick roads, and frozen arena with no sign of a quick thaw before our Christmas trip. It is what it is; I'm trying not to be jealous of those of you who have access to an indoor arena!

Unchained Melody

(Ray Stevens seemed more appropriate than a tear-jerker.)  (-: 

"Oh, my Lance, my goober

You make me laugh so much.

Another recovery;

As time goes by so slowly.

Time can only do so much;

Are you now sound?"

Last night Rick took a look at Lance's most recently injured ligaments. They are not as good as new, but they are as good as they are going to get, so we are cleared for take-off . . . or at least taxiing down the runway. We can start doing a little trot and canter work; Rick recommended working on the straightaway as much as possible, and cantering to the right and trotting to the left when turns are necessary. I think Lance will be happy; he's been offering trot for awhile now.

After ultrasounding Lance, Rick took a look at Breezy in the adjoining stall. (The topical chemo had no discernible effect; Rick is investigating the next option.) With the chain off his door latch, Houdini Lance got busy – and I documented the master at work:

Open Sesame!

It really is amazing what he can do with that mouth!

Thankfully, the quick-link and chain still has him stymied.

Waiting to exhale

"Who you lookin' at?"

Lance really isn't scared in that photo; he's got his eye on a handful of hay I'd just grabbed. He already knew it was good stuff; he let himself out of his stall and grabbed the whole bale off the stack when my farrier was here Monday. I had lead Breezy out, so Houdini's stall door wasn't chained shut, just latched.  :-/

I've been hand-walking Lance for the last week, and considering how pent-up and squirrelly he's been in his stall, he's leading pretty well. None of the dramatic airs above the ground he demonstrated when I walked him at his old barn before bringing him here to live. He gets his final shockwave treatment tomorrow night. A week or so after that, Rick will ultrasound the injured ligaments to see how they look; I'm hoping he'll give me the green light to start riding a bit at the walk. We'll stick to riding out and about; schooling in our sand arena is OUT until it gets some rain to firm it up and stabilize it. I am convinced that riding in dry, shifty sand footing has been the main cause of Russell's and Lance's very similar, repeated ligament injuries. My vet husband poo-poos my idea, but Dr. Hilary Clayton has written about footing and I think supports my theory. We'll see!

How to put this to good use?

This morning when Brian and I went down to do chores, Breezy's stall door was ajar:

Lance had managed to jam the quick link so badly that Rick had to cut it off, so the stall door latches were secured with just the clips and chain. Fortunately that was enough to keep Lance from actually letting himself or Breezy out.

When we got home late this afternoon, I went to toss something in the trash bin outside the garage and spotted this:

The turkey! I headed down to put him back in his stall, and realized he had company:

The chain – both clips attached – was on the barn floor. Fortunately Lance and Breezy hadn't trashed the barn; the grass was the obvious attraction. There was a bit of a mess around the grain bins, but our set-up makes accessing them pretty difficult:

Our barn is kinda funky; it's a two-level affair. When we bought this place, there was a wooden 'room' built out level with the concrete; once upon a time it had been a marijuana grow room. We tore it all out, poured a concrete floor on the lower level, built the stairs and a tack room (the corner is visible on the right side of the photo). Keeping the grain and feed bins on the upper level adds a measure of safety that has become even more important since Lance joined the family!