I probably knew that a poptart is not a meal, but I didn't care. Now I have a headache and I understand. I think its time for a return to trail mix, cheese and crackers. Now that I'm all employed and whatnot I can afford these things, which is neat. Anyway, today at the barn Alyssa arrived by car before I did, by bus. She helped me pick out Papillon's hooves, which were like cement. I took her out to the field and she was happy to be out but keeping to a fast walk. I was happy about that. Cari and whats-her-name (the one that rides moonbeam) were out in the field so we went and walked with them. Papillon had to slow down a lot. Papillon was not pleased by this but she walked on the bit for a while which was good for her. When they left I walked around the field one more time and decided I would humor Papillon with a little trotting, plus I wanted to work on my posting trot.
Papillon does not do just "a little" trotting. Actually if it were up to her she would not trot at all, she would gallop and probably go jump over some logs or something. If it were left up to her she would put a slow, painful end to her cushy existence by laming herself up beyond all reason. Anyway, we tro-cantered around the field a lot. Apparently the fact that when she trotted I gave her a pretty loose rein and when she cantered I tightened it significantly, was not compelling. I did practice my posting trot though, I focused mainly on sitting up as tall as I could and on keeping my feet back and underneath me. With most horses you know you're doing it right because they relax and round and become more responsive. With Papillon you know you're doing it ok if her canter transitions feel smooth. We did a lot of trot-canter transitions, lots.
We trocantered around the field 1.75 times. The last segment we walked. Then in a futile attempt to cool her off, we walked around the field again. There was going to be no cooling her off. She was going to walk very very forward. I could slow her down, but I couldn't get her to relax, so she was still hyped up by the time we got back. She was also very very sweaty by the time we got back. She made the fleece pad so disgusting that I had to take it off and switch it out. Now in civilized places you'd just do that every time, but here theres no good way to wash these pads. I guess I'll take them home and wash them, someday. Or try to get Lil to let Robert wash them in her washing machine.
I hosed her off with lukewarm water, scraped it off really well and stood around in the breeze for it to dry. Its an overcast day but its humid and fairly warm so I dont think she was especially uncomfortable. She wasn't too pleased about me washing her face. Alyssa thought it was funny, I was just trying to concentrate on the fact that I wasnt torturing an innocent animal, just a regular animal. Papillon had brought this on herself.
Alyssa had to go, and after a while sitting around talking with Robert it occurred to me to ask about keno pulling the tire. I asked if that was something Alyssa and I could do with him, and he said that it most certainly was, and that he'd show me how it was done and where the equipment is. So we hitched keno up to the tire and Robert drove him for a minute and then handed me the reins. As soon as they were in my hands he stopped, but I slapped him with the reins and he moved off. I think when Alyssa and I do this one of us should have a driving whip and we can give him a swat if he wont move. Once he was moving he was pretty good. He made a pretty big show of all his suffering but periodically he seemed to be enjoying being out and about and pricked his ears up and moved a little better.
I sat and talked with Robert for almost and hour after that, which was good. I think its important to chit chat with Robert, it keeps him in a good mood and it lets me know whats on his mind, which is helpful. Plus it is rather interesting to talk to an old, conservative guy with surprisingly progressive ideas in a lot of different areas.
I gave Papillon some bute, which I had been meaning to do for a while. Then I got star out to ride in the arena, and I put the running martingale on her, intending to do some trot work. In the arena there were, as always, scary things in view. She didn't like the hay bales in general but there seemed to be one bale in particular that she kept looking at and shying away from. Maybe it was my imagination. She actually had one pretty serious bucking fit. Usually when she bucks its really smooth and oddly comfortable to ride. This was not like that, this was a throw you in the air, pull you out of your seat kind of bucking. I pulled her head around with one rein and with the other hand I grabbed a handful of mane. There were a couple of tense moments but between all the other stuff and keeping my legs nice and long around her I stayed on her, and eventually she stopped fussing. She did this again but I was more prepared for it that time, and she had a lower expectation of seeing results so it wasn't quite as bad.
After about 15 minutes she was mostly OK with the hay bales but I didn't feel like pushing my luck with a trot, so we did some circling and changing directions. I did one exercise which I really like, I picked out the amount of bend I wanted, fixed my inside rein there. Actually I just rested my hand on my leg. So we went around until she wasn't pulling on that rein. We also fixed that bend and then I pushed her with my inside leg so she was walking along the rail. I think it was a sort of shoulders in deal but its hard for me to tell with her. She was pissed about the circles. She hates circles but she started getting used to them after a while, then she got fed up with them again. Sigh.
I fed and then I got Lady out to show Sam how Lady pulls her back hooves in and in front of her other back leg when she picks up a hoof. She is all kinds of broken. She was sound on a straight line so I rode her. Even though I had already changed into my denim capris, even though all the other reasons it wasnt a great idea.
I was going to ride her in the outdoor arena but we were walking up to the mounting block and all of the sudden she threw a huge buck/kick in Sam's direction. I decided that was a bad omen and took her into the arena to ride. She was worried about the hay bales, spooked at them but nothing major, just her little drop-down-a-few-inches type spook. I even let her trot a little on the long sides of the arena, and down the center line. She was off, not horrible but not subtle either. She was sweating a little when I got off her, more than a horse doing as little as she had ought to be sweating. I want to write about my thoughts on her current state but I think I'll save that for another post.
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