Since I'm not going riding today (it's way too friggin cold and I don't have the pleasure of having an indoor arena to ride in), I figured that I take some photos of Dollar's Christmas gifts.
His new leather halter
Name plate on the halter
My new helmet!!
I had gotten some gift cards for Christmas, so I spent them wisely.....for my horsey and me! Bonus part was that the halter and helmet were both on sale! Boo yeah!
Finally! I got out to ride Dollar today!! Sheesh, I mean, it's almost been 3 weeks since I last rode him. Sigh. I'm such a bad horse mom.
Anyways, got out to my parents place around 1:00 this afternoon to ride and play with Dollar. I went in the house for a bit and played around with my nephew and then bundled up and headed to the back. Seeing as Dollar didn't have a halter on, I just grabbed a lead rope to put around his neck to lead him to the barn.
When I got the holding pen, I called out his name like usual and noticed something a bit odd. Usually he comes right up to the gate when I call him, but today he was moving slowly and stiffly. Did not like the looks of that. I quickly ran into the pen and went to go look him over. He seemed OK, with a couple of patches of hair missing (thanks Mars and Reno), but he was indeed stiff. I think part of the reason for the stiffness is that part of their holding pen has frozen shit all over the place, especially where the feeding mangers are. Also I don't think he's been outside 24/7 in winter since I sold him in 2002. I loved him up a little and then put the lead rope around his neck and lead him to the barn.
While we were walking towards the barn, I kept looking over him to see where he was stiff and it seemed to be the back legs the most. The front were OK, but you could tell that the back legs were stiff. I got him to the barn and of course, had to take a lovely photo of him.
My trusty old man
Once we reached the barn, I tied him up and got my stuff ready to ride. Quickly warmed up my bridle, put that on him and grabbed my saddle. Had to lengthen the girth a bit seeing as he's put on some winter weight and it didn't fit at his usual spot anymore. Lol. And of course, with it being winter and me bundled like the abominable snowman, I had to use the fence to climb up on him. Never fails. Snow pants don't give you enough room to stretch up into the saddle.
Once I was mounted, we started our very light workout. And I could tell right away that he was not happy to be working and that he was indeed stiff. Very stiff. I just asked him to walk aruond the arena while I assessed how he was moving. On the front end, he seemed to be OK, but he kept pinning his ears back like last time and I knew something must be hurting him. Either that or he's ticked off that we're in the pen and not outside hacking. But his back end was indeed stiff.
After walking around for a while, I tried moving him into softer snow to see if that would help his situation. He seemed a bit better that he wasn't walking on rocky shit all the time, but his attitude was clearly saying more. Then I saw my Dad come outside and he said that he wanted to take a photo of me and Dollar. Now for those of you who know me, this probably is a shock. For those who don't, I'll explain.
See, everyone in my family rides Western, except for me. I'm the only one who rides English. And my Dad doesn't necissarily like it. So when he came and took a photo today, saw me in English and didn't say anything, that had me by complete surprise. Maybe he is coming around...
After Dad took a photo or two of me, he took my nephew home and me and Dollar continued our workout, only to cut it short a couple minutes later. I didn't like the way he was moving, so I hopped off and took him inside the barn to warm up and give him a good grooming.
Put him in one of the stalls, gave him an apple and some grain and went to loving him up. Also decided to try winterizing his tail again to see if it will grow. He's ripped quite a bit out, and I'm not impressed. Once he was finished his treats and all loved up, I put him back outside with promises to be back on Friday (hopefully with his Christmas present).
Some photos of Dollar's Christmas so far. Tonight we had my side at my parent's place and so I brought some treats along for Dollar to have as his Christmas gift. When we got there, I grabbed some apples from inside the house and went to the back. I gave everyone an apple and then proceeded to bring Dollar into the barn to give him his treats separately so that he didn't have to fight off anyone else.
Dollar's treats
Of course when I got him in the barn, he was just concerned with eating the hay bales and not paying any attention to me. Seems he's a bit pissed off at me for not riding him in 2 weeks. Sorry bud, stupid cold. I put his treats on the ground and then he realized that I had something for him! Of course, he went to scarfing it down like crazy and ate almost all of it.
After he was done eating, I kicked him back outside and spent some time loving him up and also giving some love to Reno and Sue. I didn't get anything for Dollar today from my family, but still hoping that I get something horsey in the next day or two. That'd be nice.
OK, so now I'm going on a month with this STUPID FXCKING COLD that my hubby's not letting me go ride Dollar. It's been almost 2 weeks since I last rode him and feeling like a very bad horse Mom. I'm going down to my parent's place tonight for Christmas Eve, so at least I'll be able to go see him and give him his Christmas treats that he deserves.
Finally! I got out to ride today! After 2 weeks of having stupid cold, it's gone away enough that I can actually go out and ride Old Man. Sheesh, I mean, it's only been about 2 weeks since I've ridden him.
So I got out to my parents place around 11 and went inside to see if Sam would want to come join me. She kept saying no, that she wasn't feeling good. Whatever. So I put on my winter stuff, bundled up and went out into the cold. Grabbed the treats for Dollar from my car and headed to the back. Grabbed a lead rope and managed to get him out of the holding pen without letting the others out. Got him up to the fence and decided that I was just going to ride him bareback with the halter and lead rope today and just have some fun. Since I don't have an indoor arena, I can't really train during winter unless I want to haul somewhere, so we were going to have some fun today. I quickly checked him over and was disappointed to see that the other horses have still been attacking him. He's got small chunks of fur missing from his main body and I know it's from the other horses picking on him. Not too impressed with that.
One of the couple places on him that the fur has been pulled out by the other horses.
Not impressed
I let him grab a drink of water and then brought him to the fence and hopped on. I could already tell that he was hyper. Well, at least he's not lazy! We got to walking around just to let him stretch out and he was feeling pretty good. Except he was being weird in his own little way. He kept pinning his ears back, but I wasn't doing anything to him. Wonder? I tested his flexing, which he did perfectly. It's nice to know that he remembers that from long ago. See, when I first got him, he went into training with my trainer. Bob taught him how to flex his neck so that his face would be at your boot and he'd hold it there until you told him to go the other way, just to stretch out his neck before riding. Well, now when you ask him to flex, he turns it the way you ask him to, holds it there for a while, and then goes the other way and holds it there for a while. Smart one. And I also caught a cute picture of the kitten Ruth. She just got kicked out of the house by Dad (he doesn't like indoor cats, she's Mom's) and she had decided to try to follow me. But when I turned Dollar to shoo her away she went running away and then hopped into some snow. And sat there crying. Yup, she doesn't like the snow either. Lol.
Drinkin'
Flex to the left......
Now to the right.... (stupid snow flake got in the way)
Ruth in the snow
Once he was good walking around, I asked him to jog, now his jog is usually pretty slow and nice. Usually. Today, we had TROT. Yup, we had a nice trot today and I think even some sort of extended trot as well. Impressive for an old man. But he was still putting his ears back. By this time, we had been riding for almost 45 minutes, so I decided to have a bit of fun with him. While going down the long side, I asked him to lope. Nope, he went into a faster trot. Then I turned him down center line and he booked it home. Of course, when we got to the fence, he slowed down and made a nice turn to the left while I was laughing. That felt so good to do that with him. So of course, we did it again. At the end of the 2nd round, I figured I'd get a video of this. So I set my camera up on the post and this is what we got...
Fun, fun, FUN!
Of course, when I grabbed the camera afterwards to play the video, my batteries died. Well at least they didn't die while filming. So I hopped off, tied him up and went inside the house to ask Sam if she had any batteries. Of course, she was snarky as well and said no and asked why I needed them. I told her that I wanted to see the video that I took of me and Dollar having fun. She just looked at me and said that I shouldn't be loping Dollar because he's out of shape. Umm...we've spent 30-40 minutes just walking and trotting and did like 5 minutes of loping. And he was fine. And needed that out of his system. I just told her whatever and headed back outside.
Then I went into the barn and managed to find 2 blankets that might fit Dollar. I decided to put a spring blanket on him so that the other horses can stop taking chunks out of him. I gave him his treats and then proceeded to try the first blanket on. Yeah right. It was about 2-3 feet TO SHORT!. Damn, he has a long back. So I took that one off and tried the other one. This one actually fits him nicely with a bit of room to spare for all his winter coat.
Styling his blanket!!
Once he was all fitted up and had finished all his treats, I turned him back into the holding pen, but this time took off his halter. He doesn't need it in the holding pen. Cleaned up my stuff and went back inside the house. Told Sam not to take his blanket off at all as I do not need a bald horse by the end of winter. She just looked at me as if I was crazy for putting a blanket on him and I explained to her that it was a spring blanket and no need to worry. Sheesh.
Once I was done with everything/one, I grabbed my stuff and left. Hoping that I can get out again soon...
