Full Days
Thursday I did a jumping lesson with Kitt. She warmed up nicely and had a surprising spring to her trot. She warmed up nicely over the cavelletti both in trot and canter before we started work on the three jump combination (two single strides). It's hard to remember now when and where she refused, but it was an improvement on the last time. Michelle had me trot her in and canter her out at the end and also clarified that ahe wanted Kitt cantering it and not just holding the trot. The Kitt-monster was pretty much just trotting the crossrail (about a foot tall) and plank (18") before jumping the gate (2'). When I cantered her in she jumped all three and we had a couple clear goes at it before calling it good.
I do still wig out mentally at the 2' mark and the whole near-solid fence, but I am getting better and am pleasantly pleased by Kitt's scope, if not her initial lack of desire!
After training I picked up Bud before hanging out with the boys until my next lesson at 1pm. She has an older Fox Trotter mare and work in her roundpen and on her property has gone well so we were going to go out. Since I didn't want to walk I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone and I would take Bud.
The mare, Eden, was pretty comfortable on her bome turf and started out well as we went along. Bus goobered once and got her slightly as we went down a slight divot in the wash and I think the bank slid iut from under his foot slightly, which he got opinionated about with a squeal, head toss, and all.
We worked on getting Eden to stay focused passing "scary" things like a fire hydrant and worked her up and down the street that boarders the side of her property. I ended up getting on for aome more feedback, which told me she was really stiff to the right and would initially push into the leg instead of yielding to it. I talked about what I was feeling, what I was doing, and why as a little gator truck ashows up down the road. I didn't reaally have time to cross back to the open side of the road so I parked her on the same side as the little vehicle and let her watch it approach. She did fine until it got about ten feet away where she spun 180 degrees and tried to leave town (in the same direction as the vehicle!). I reined her up and she pretty much just sat right back down, but carried a lot of tension in her neck after that as I continued to work Eden to a point where she started to relax again.
It was good to see her actually act up and feel what was goiing on. I think Eden has done her share of shutting down and being stuffed that she holds it in a bit until she explodes, which is something that wasn't obvious at home where she is most comfortable.
After that I had to return Bud and then two more lessons. Friday was final Christmas shopping and seeing the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. We grabbed dinner on the way home and ate at the house as both boys had passed out.
Last night Chris came down with a terrible stomach bug reminiscent of the Great Illness of 2012 that downed Chris, myself, Dave, and Marty and I think my parents ended up with it too. It atarted with my nephew Zayne. We weren't sure if it wasn't food poisoning first, but I think we have determined that it is just a nasty stomach flu.
Needless to say Chris did not make it to work. I started lessons at 7am running off of just a couple hours sleep as Chris was up and down all night long. I had a break at eight, which was spent distributing psyllium and other supplements as well as initiating getting ready for the Clean-up Potluck. Nine to eleven were two more lessons and then I had two students helping me load up and take stuff over to the property.
As I was putting up the sign Haley drove up. She will most likely be soing an internship with me this Spring for her Equine Science degree (Associates, same program I went through). I am excited to have her along! There will definitely be no lack of things to do this Spring!
The potluck and clean up went quite well! I had the three mentioned earlier, TJ, Eli, and the rest of their family, Keara and Roxanne, Mariah and her mom, Emma, Chad, and Corrinne made it as well, and Katie and Payton. Not a bad turn out. Corrinne mentioned Emma's current trainer may be moving farther away and Emma's been anxious to get back on some of my horses again so who knows, I may get them back as clients.
We filled up ao many bags of stuff and found many strange things. The list includes: bra strap, socks (various singles), shoes (also no the same ones), lighter parts, bolts, and car battery terminals. There were also some drug vials complete with syringes, glad to get that off the property! I will probably throw a couple bags in our cans each week until they are gone. The large timber and cinder blocks will have t wait for a run to the dump or something.
After two and a half hours of picking up trash I went to work with Sue and Bud, who did pretty well. I then had one more lesson before feeding the herd, moving two bales (three-wire, not that pansy two wire stuff some of you chuck ... [how I wish we had two-wire bales...]), and then cleaning up and claiming the boys from Dave and Marty. Tristan finally went down a little after nine and Kelhan followed. Chris is claiming the master suite as a quarantine zone so Kelhan is sleeping in Tristan's room and I will be joining them ahortly. I just realized how tired I am. I don't think I'll be doing dishes before bed. I am doing good finishing this up.
I do still wig out mentally at the 2' mark and the whole near-solid fence, but I am getting better and am pleasantly pleased by Kitt's scope, if not her initial lack of desire!
After training I picked up Bud before hanging out with the boys until my next lesson at 1pm. She has an older Fox Trotter mare and work in her roundpen and on her property has gone well so we were going to go out. Since I didn't want to walk I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone and I would take Bud.
The mare, Eden, was pretty comfortable on her bome turf and started out well as we went along. Bus goobered once and got her slightly as we went down a slight divot in the wash and I think the bank slid iut from under his foot slightly, which he got opinionated about with a squeal, head toss, and all.
We worked on getting Eden to stay focused passing "scary" things like a fire hydrant and worked her up and down the street that boarders the side of her property. I ended up getting on for aome more feedback, which told me she was really stiff to the right and would initially push into the leg instead of yielding to it. I talked about what I was feeling, what I was doing, and why as a little gator truck ashows up down the road. I didn't reaally have time to cross back to the open side of the road so I parked her on the same side as the little vehicle and let her watch it approach. She did fine until it got about ten feet away where she spun 180 degrees and tried to leave town (in the same direction as the vehicle!). I reined her up and she pretty much just sat right back down, but carried a lot of tension in her neck after that as I continued to work Eden to a point where she started to relax again.
It was good to see her actually act up and feel what was goiing on. I think Eden has done her share of shutting down and being stuffed that she holds it in a bit until she explodes, which is something that wasn't obvious at home where she is most comfortable.
After that I had to return Bud and then two more lessons. Friday was final Christmas shopping and seeing the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple. We grabbed dinner on the way home and ate at the house as both boys had passed out.
Last night Chris came down with a terrible stomach bug reminiscent of the Great Illness of 2012 that downed Chris, myself, Dave, and Marty and I think my parents ended up with it too. It atarted with my nephew Zayne. We weren't sure if it wasn't food poisoning first, but I think we have determined that it is just a nasty stomach flu.
Needless to say Chris did not make it to work. I started lessons at 7am running off of just a couple hours sleep as Chris was up and down all night long. I had a break at eight, which was spent distributing psyllium and other supplements as well as initiating getting ready for the Clean-up Potluck. Nine to eleven were two more lessons and then I had two students helping me load up and take stuff over to the property.
As I was putting up the sign Haley drove up. She will most likely be soing an internship with me this Spring for her Equine Science degree (Associates, same program I went through). I am excited to have her along! There will definitely be no lack of things to do this Spring!
The potluck and clean up went quite well! I had the three mentioned earlier, TJ, Eli, and the rest of their family, Keara and Roxanne, Mariah and her mom, Emma, Chad, and Corrinne made it as well, and Katie and Payton. Not a bad turn out. Corrinne mentioned Emma's current trainer may be moving farther away and Emma's been anxious to get back on some of my horses again so who knows, I may get them back as clients.
We filled up ao many bags of stuff and found many strange things. The list includes: bra strap, socks (various singles), shoes (also no the same ones), lighter parts, bolts, and car battery terminals. There were also some drug vials complete with syringes, glad to get that off the property! I will probably throw a couple bags in our cans each week until they are gone. The large timber and cinder blocks will have t wait for a run to the dump or something.
After two and a half hours of picking up trash I went to work with Sue and Bud, who did pretty well. I then had one more lesson before feeding the herd, moving two bales (three-wire, not that pansy two wire stuff some of you chuck ... [how I wish we had two-wire bales...]), and then cleaning up and claiming the boys from Dave and Marty. Tristan finally went down a little after nine and Kelhan followed. Chris is claiming the master suite as a quarantine zone so Kelhan is sleeping in Tristan's room and I will be joining them ahortly. I just realized how tired I am. I don't think I'll be doing dishes before bed. I am doing good finishing this up.