And I Ride!

Finally

The weather was miserable for two days, either windy and cold, or rainy and cold. Today was gorgeous!!

Dr. McAndrew was here this morning at 8 AM to do the final round of vaccinations. She also had the test results for Toby's Cushings and so far, with the lowest dose of medication, his levels are normal. Good deal. We discussed some diet changes for tubby Tucker and tubby Chance. (Tucker is not too bad, though.) I'd already cut them down to less than a third of what Toby gets, but we decided to change feed.

She suggested a hay stretcher instead of a fortified feed with a supplement called Enrich 32. It's a vitamin/mineral supplement designed specifically for horses on a hay only diet. Hay Stretcher is mostly a pelleted hay with minimal extras. It gives the horse something to munch on that's like a pelleted feed but without all the nutritional extras and fat. So I'll be gradually switching the two "live on air" Boys over to that with just a token handful of the regular feed to keep them happy while Toby chows down on the Healthy Edge--high fat, low carb.

Before I went to the feed store, I went to Motor Vehicle to renew my car and trailer registrations. Just my luck that nearly all the reps were on break at the same time so I had a bit of a wait, but I survived and the vehicles are legal again.

Then, it was off to the feed store to stock up. I ate lunch when I got home and then headed out to ride somebody.

Chance was the only one who seemed interested. So I slipped the halter on him, led him in and started some work with the shedding blade. A hairy pile later and I finally saddled him up.

He was, as ever, a good, quiet ride. At the walk and trot, he generally goes down and round with a bit of work on my part. As I've said before, if I ride him regularly, he will be in a nice little dressage frame in a couple weeks. But today, after having been off from school for so long, he was there about 70% of the time.

I did a lot of trot circles, working a little more on the right rein than the left. I found myself incorrectly using my right leg on the circle, and focused on correcting my position to keep Chance from falling in on his shoulder and it worked a treat. I did have to reinforce things now and again by putting the dressage whip on his shoulder in front of the saddle, but all in all we accomplished a lot.

I did some canter work as well--Chance's favored gait--but we lost the plot a few times when he broke. Again, it was mostly my fault since he'd break gait when he lost the roundness or the bend. As long as I concentrated on keeping his body in a working frame, he kept the canter. One more thing to work on.

I rode all told for just over twenty minutes. It was a good session.

I cleaned Tucker's feet and put in the thrush medication. Then I gave him a groom, adding to the pile of horse hair on the floor. This time, I left Toby alone, mostly because all he really wanted was dinner.

Done with that, I partially unloaded the truck, but left about 5 bags of feed in there. I need another pair of storage garbage cans in the barn as the plastic feed bin has now been chewed by the rat family. It had a good long life, but its time has come.

Guess I'm due for a trip to Home Depot for some cans.

I can always find a way to spend money. *sigh*