Back in the arena

Well, we haven't completely forgotten how it's done :D

He was a bit unstable on the bit in the beginning, but after a while he seemed to settle into the work, and was very cooperative. Lots of transitions between walk, trot and halt. A little lateral work in walk. His gaits felt good, although I had to remind him to stay forward off my leg a bit more sharply than was necessary before the break, but there was a big improvement just during this short ride, so I'm not worried about that.

His strength and endurance will take a while to build back up of course, but training wise we haven't lost much, just a little fine tuning.

On our trail rides I've been very careful to give him 15-20 mins walk warm up before any trotting, and I can feel it has a good effect. A longer walk warm up loosens him up really well, and something I'll make sure to continue doing - but 15 mins of walk feels like a really long time in the arena! I checked the clock today when I felt like, OK now I'd normally start my trot warm up, and we had only walked for 7 mins - I thought it was more like 12! So I need to be very careful to stick to at least 15 mins on dressage days. I think I'll just walk him in the woods before and after dressage training whenever possible - I normally only ride him after dark once a week anyway so shouldn't be too hard. It'll give him a little fresh air even on non-trail days, and I don't get bored so quickly outdoors ;)

More Bucks!

Oh boy, he's feeling good :D

Headed up a hill, Barokko asked if he could canter, I said OK, go, we got to a bunch of little sticks and stuff, I started bringing him down in tempo worried he might trip (today is the anniversary of my bad fall last winter, didn't want to make being injured a New Year's tradition!), when all of a sudden his head went down - aaargh don't fall, don't fall! wait... he's not falling, he's BUCKING!!! once, twice, thrice in a row, oh what the heck, here's another one :P

Two days in a row, looks like this is getting to be a habit ;)

Tomorrow I won't be at the barn before dark, so we'll try a little dressage - feels like it's been years and years, wonder if we'll remember how it works :P

Having fun!

The ground has finally dried up enough to let us get away from the paths and into the undergrowth, leading to much more fun rides. Still mostly walk, but I'm gradually adding more trot sets, and today I asked for canter for the first time - wow, he gave me a perfect depart, and an awesome round, uphill canter :D

I rode out with M on S today, we were just about to start trotting, when all of a sudden S spooked at something behind us and leapt forward - and when he jumps, it's big! so he was very quickly far ahead of us. Barokko curled up tight, bucked hard 3 times in a row, and then off at a gallop - looks like his energy is returning ;-)

We jumped a few little fallen branches (ca 25cm high) and hopped over a couple little ditches, he's getting to be very reliable in different terrain, and seems to enjoy the little obstacles I find for us to forge.

Brrr it's cold!

Trail ride with M today, just before dark, the woods were so quiet... We did 2 brief trot sets, Barokko seemed energetic and gave be real quality trot, soooo happy to feel his gaits returning!

When we got back I noticed he had tiny icicles in his beard :D

EPSM?

I've been doing a lot of research on tying-up recently, and in the process have also come across a lot of references to Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy (abbr. PSSM, EPSSM, or, most commonly, EPSM).

According to wikipedia: "EPSM is a genetic predisposition to fail to digest grains properly in the horse. The result leads to damage to muscle tissue during exertion. It is estimated by DNA testing that approximately 2/3 of all draft horses have the predisposition for EPSM."

EPSM is now thought to be one of the most common causes of tying-up in situations without extreme over-exertion - such as was the case with Barokko. Starch:work ratio is still the trigger factor, but EPSM horses will tie up with less provocation than other horses, and these are typically also the horses with chronic tying-up problems, and slow recoveries.

EPSM is primarily controlled through diet: low starch, high fiber, high fat (usually via vegetable oil).

Looking into EPSM, I realized Barokko fits really well into the EPSM profile. EPSM can only be diagnosed through a muscle biopsy, but alternatively it's worth a try to just put the horse on an EPSM diet, and see if it improves. If it does, keep it on the diet, if not, it's probably not EPSM, so off to find another diagnosis. Non-EPSM horses will often also benefit from an EPSM diet, and under any circumstances it won't harm them.

So I'm going to try adding oil to Barokko's diet and treating him as recommended for EPSM horses (re exercise etc). If it works and prevents future problems, great. If it doesn't have any effect then there's no harm done.

Walk walk walk

This week's grand plan is walking :D

I started in the indoor arena the first few days, to get him started without too much looky-jumpy-sillyness, I'm completely paranoid about avoiding over-exertion :-/

Yesterday and today we went out in the woods with a steady-eddie companion - walking is so much more interesting outdoors ;) Yesterday he was completely calm, today he was a bit more frisky, pulling ahead in a brisk trot every now and then, but no serious shenanigans - of course that may come when he starts getting a bit more to eat:-P

Diet change

I rode a little bit yesterday, he felt normal at the walk, yeah :D He was a little stiff at the trot still, but that's to be expected, it felt like "just" stiffness in the muscles, he didn't seem sore or irritated.

I'm going to slowly put him back into work now. I'll work out a 3 week re-training program to get him back up to full training, but plan to work him at a slightly lower intensity thru the winter than he was at before he started having problems.

I also had a long chat with the feed store's consultant, and we worked out a diet plan for him with less starch, more fiber, and extra vitamin E, all of which should result in the same amount of energy etc but less risk of tying up again.

Getting Better

Barokko's starting to act up a bit when I hand walk him, I'm taking that as a good sign that he's feeling better :D His gaits look normal again when he's turned out, too, and he's been very playful the past two days. I'm going to hop on tomorrow and see if it feels like he's ready for a little walk work yet.

Knowing what's wrong is such a huge relief!

Tied Up!

He tied up! :( Poor guy... It wasn't a serious case, so even if I had known what it was, the treatment would have been what I've done = take him out of work until he feels better.

The blood test showed his muscle values are returning to normal, and he should be OK within a few days, and then ready to be put slowly back to work.

I'm trying to adjust his feed to get less starch, it's hard when the only two feed options we have both have 20-25% starch :/ I think I'll talk to Brogaarden, a feed store that delivers to the barn, maybe their consultants can give me some good suggestions. While he's still poorly I've cut the grain down to half, and added extra hay, carrots, and lucerne, then hopefully I'll have a good plan for him by the time he's back in full work and needs full feed again...

Infection?

Had the vet out to take a look at Barokko today. He immediately said "He's not himself!" when I put him on the longe, I was so glad I wasn't just hallucinating!

Anyway, he didn't think it looked like something wrong in his legs or back, and instead suspects that he has some kind of systemic infection - he's had a cough for some days now, maybe it's all connected.

He took a blood sample, I should get the results Thursday. Until then it's more of what we've been doing the past week, working on the Horse Gym to keep him toned, and turning him out to keep him happy.

:(

Gave him a day off yesterday. In the morning I lead him to a grassy spot near the barn to graze. I noticed his walk sounded different than it usually does, the rhythm was a bit off, but he looked fine in all 4 legs, no heat or swelling or anything.

When we got back from grazing, I turned him out with a buddy, and he seemed fresh enough, they played a bit, he rolled and threw in a few good bucks, pretty normal.

In the afternoon I put him on the longe, looked a bit tight in the walk. Normally when I put him forward in the trot my reaction is "wow, what a great little trot he has," but yesterday it was just a "meh" trot :( Better on the left than on the right, but not really great either side. Not lame at all, but not himself either - this is beginning to sound very familiar...

I decided to hop on bareback and try to loosen him up a bit with some walk exercises, thinking maybe he's just a bit stiff after no dressage for a while - trail rides are great for a lot of things, but I can't loosen him the same way out there that I can in the arena. His walk felt a bit funny, but again not at all lame, and he was pretty supple, steady in the hand etc, so lots of good stuff. I decided to try him in trot just to see how it felt, and he didn't want to! He did it, but very unwillingly, and when I asked for just a little more forward than "slug" he pinned his ears!

Needless to say, I jumped off immediately and hand-walked him.

I can't find any back soreness, I can't see a lameness, no swelling or heat anywhere... He does have a bit of a cough, but that shouldn't affect his movement like that... Why can't he just be OK? :(

I'm going to keep working him on the longe, he's accepting the side reins nicely now, so I'll try to do some cavaletti work, transitions etc to try to keep him supple without riding, no saddle, no rider for at least a week, see what happens. I'll call the vet Monday if his movement isn't back to normal on the longe by then.

Trail rides

We've pretty much just trail ridden the past days, wanted to let him get used to wearing a saddle again, and also I've been a bit poorly, and mostly just felt like spending time with Barokko rather than concentrating too much ;)

Lost one of his red bell boots in the mud yesterday, luckily I'd just ordered a new pair, they should be here this week - bright pink this time! Can't wait to see them on him ;)

Rode him out as leader with a group lesson today, he was very good, even when one of the students fell off and her horse ran ahead a bit Barokko stayed completely under my aids. Later he bravely led the way past a group of young male deer testing out their antlers *clack-clack* with his head held high and nostrils flared, mane flying in the wind, but again 100% attentive and obedient to my every whisper.

Tomorrow I'll give him the day off, and then dressage on Thursday, time to get an impression of the new saddle!

New Saddle

Had the saddle fitter out again today. Ended up trading in the Albion K2 Legend for a used Bates Isabell. It's in very good shape, looks new except for a few brown horse hairs in the nooks and crannies ;)

Ideally, I would have liked it in 16.5" with the small knee pads, but she didn't have one of those used. So instead I got the 17" with large knee pads, which works out pretty well, too. So here I am, with a deep-seated saddle with large knee pads and a wide twist, exactly the opposite of the open seat, small or no knee pads, and narrow twist prerequisites I had for a saddle, go figure. But it looks like it should work for the horse, and my balance is good in the saddle, so I'll just have to learn to live with everything else ;) I'm looking forward to trying it properly, although I'm a bit paranoid about it, keeping my fingers crossed that he'll be OK with it!!

Then of course there's Wintec/Bates' annoying feature of shorter billet straps than other saddles, so I needed a new girth, too. Luckily, my old one was a well-kept Stübben, so the saddle fitter took it in trade for a longer one. I also bought a longer girth for the jumping saddle, his bulging muscles had grown out of the old one. So now we should be about set.

Detail worth remembering, the Isabell takes a narrower gullet than the Pro Jump, he has blue in the Isabell, red in the Jump.

He has a 2 cm long superficial cut just above the coronet band on his right hind that just won't heal because it keeps getting dirty, so now I cleaned, it and wrapped it up in cotton and bright red vetwrap (suits him nicely), wil keep it out of the dirt for a few days, hopefully that'll take care of it. He also has a few spots of dew poisoning on 3 legs (the joys of white legs in a wet climate), so I'm trying to keep his legs clean and dry in Denmark in winter - hah!

Improvement!

I was away in the weekend (finished the final course of my instructor certification, yeah!!), so had M and J take care of him while I was gone.

Saturday M got up early and turned him out with a buddy before her lessons. Later in the day I had booked a massage session for him. the report back was that the soreness in his back was completely gone (yipee :D ), and that the unevenness in size in his back muscles was only a problem for saddle fit. The texture of the muscles was the same on both sides, so there was no crookedness with him being more stiff or tense in one side. A slight tenseness in the upper shoulder muscles, a natural conscequence of his head carriage, long and low work and feeding him on the ground should help loosen that up a bit, and give him more freedom in his foreleg movement (want lots of that for our extensions!!). In the evening one of the other boarders free-jumped her horse, and M asked if Barokko could play, too. He overjumped a bit on the first couple of jumps, but after that settled into a rhythm, and had a good time :)

Sunday was J's turn. She started in the indoor to feel his gaits without a saddle, but it quickly got boring, since I don't want anyone else riding dressage on him ;) So off to the woods instead, and they had a really good ride with lots of speed and exciting encounters with noisy Icelandic ponies, deer, bicyclists and other natural obstacles. She only almost slipped off him once :D

So yeaterday I was back, and excited to ride him again. There was a marked improvement in his movement since last week, he was cooperative, very stable on the bit, nicely forward, and even bucked once (I thought his canter was hard to sit bareback, that little buck almost did it in for me hehe). We worked a bit on lengthenings, which was really cool to try bareback, I could really feel how his front legs came up and out, and the push from behind.

This bareback stuff is actually really good, I'm getting awesome feedback on the work we're doing because I can feel every muscle tension, every lift or hollowing of the back etc. Not that I'm not looking forward to getting a saddle that works for him, but I should keep doing this every now and then, serious workouts, not just the little for fun sessions I've done before.

Walk in the Woods

20 mins longe work, very steady on the side reins, visibly better in the hindquarters than the other days. After the work-out I dressed him up in a wool cooler and hopped on for a walk in the woods. The wool has good friction, so staying stuck was no problem - I'm not ready for cantering on trails without a saddle quite yet, but I'll get there before the two weeks are up, can't stay away from some speed work for that long :D

When I got back to the stable the saddle fitter was there for some other boarders, and offered to take a look at Barokko right away. The Albion was newly flocked when I bought it, and the flocking has settle crookedly (due to his musculature being uneven right now, he's bigger on the left than the right). The settling has also tilted the balance slightly backward. She recommended air flocking for him to avoid this problem just repeating itself again and again while he's growing and changing, necessitating re-flocking several times a year - either getting the Albion equiped with Flair or exchanging it for a CAIR saddle.

I really like the Albion, but have hated riding in all the Flair saddles I've tried, so not real hot on that idea :/ I love the CAIR system, and love my Wintec Pro jumping saddle, but am not fond of riding dressage in synthetic saddles - then there's Bates, but the Caprilli doesn't work for him, and the Isabell is a bit pricey unless I can find it used.

Well, she's coming back next Wed, she'll bring a Flair equipped Albion I can try to ride in, as well as Wintec and Bates Isabells. I just thought I had solved my saddle finding woes, but alas...

Saddle-free Fun!

Sunday M lead Barokko in the woods for about an hour, incl lots of hop-skippity-jumping and tons of compliments from people out on walks ;)

Monday, yesterday, longe work.

Today I hopped on for a little saddle-free dressage. Although his gaits are still affected, he was clearly more comfortable without the saddle than he had been with it. He was very light and steady in the hand, which he otherwise hasn't been recently. He was also more straight through his body.

A bonus of riding without the saddle is that I could feel it immediately if he began to tense up int he back, so I could avoid doing exercizes that bothered him. Turn on the haunches was fine one way, but not the other. Canter transitions were OK to the right, but no can do to the left.

After a 30 min ride I let him loose in the arena, thinking I had it to myself. But 5 mins later S comes in with a student. I go to catch Barokko, but no way he was coming with me :D Took me several minutes to catch him, and all the while the lesson horse just stood calmly looking at him, you could almost sense her shaking her head at the silly pony ;)

The arena was free a little later, so let him out again, and set up a little jump for him to pop over, which he did a few times.

I've arranged with a new, well-recommended farrier to shoe him this week. His current shoes are actually fine, I wouldn't normally get him reshod for another two and a half weeks, but the roads are icey in the mornings now, so I need studs. Barokko has a tendency to slip easily unless he has very new shoes (or studs), even on reg pavement, so when it's icey I barely dare to even take him out of the stable on flat shoes!

The farrier was super nice to talk to, and seemed very confident, professional, and knowledgeable. He took a quick look at Barokko today while I was there, and had a very calm manner with him, so I feel good about letting him work on him. It'll be really interesting to see what his shoeing looks like.

Also, I've booked the saddlefitter for next Wed, so the inflamation can settle before she comes out to see him. It'd be great if we could make the Albion work for him, I like that saddle a lot, but we'll see.

The saddle done did it!!

Vet looked at him on the longe this morning, first one way, then the other. Hmmm, he said, he's not lame, there's something going on, but it's not in his legs. Then he checked his sacroiliac region, where I held my breath tensely - Coco was euthanized this spring due to an injury in the sacroiliac region, and I was terrified Barokko would show the same reaction Coco had done - but nothing abnormal there, phew!

He then went on to check the back, and voila. Muscular pain on the left side of the spine, just where the back panel of the saddle rests.

Suddenly all his symptoms fit - the swollen fores were never part of it, just happened to coincide with the timing. I got a new dressage saddle 6 weeks ago, and began noticing something wierd about him 4 weeks ago. Very very faint until this weekend, not always there, I couldn't see anything when he was loose or on the longe, and only noticed it in dressage. I gave him a few days off with the foreleg thing, and then started on trails when bringing him back into work, and he felt really good, but after a couple of dresage rides there it was again...

I am SO relieved that there was a simple outside cause!

So now it's 14 days without a saddle - longe work, riding without a saddle, free jumping etc, we'll find lots of things to do :) I'll get him some massage next week, and then of course get the saddle fitter out.

Well, here's a great opportunity to learn to ride that kick-ass canter of his without a saddle :D

Still NQR...

Not quite right feeling's back. Beginning to think the swollen fores were coincidental rather than causal. Watched some video of him again and again and there's clearly something there, but it's really hard to specify where - I'm leaning toward left hind but not sure at all. He's been trickier on the left side the past few weeks, seemed stiffer and harder to bend - that might support that suspicion. He got a new dressage saddle 2 months ago, maybe there's something there?

The vet's taking a look at him today, hopefully he can tell me something...

Mud!!!

Mud mud mud everywhere :)

Show tomorrow, so I should have ridden dressage, he's always best on the second day. But while I was grooming, I got the distinct impression that he needed to get out and run :/ So I threw on the jumping saddle, got out my oilskin coat, and off we went into the rain.

I had a hard time warming him up nice and steady, he just wanted to GO GO GO :D As soon as I felt he was ready, I found a suitable path, and then off we went. I decided to work in intervals. Let him go in a 30 second gallop (not top speed, but at a good clip), then 1 minute walk, 4 repetitions, and then a 10 minute walk to recuperate. My intention was to trot him out and then head home, but he kept asking for canter. So I added an extra loop, gave him a ca 1,5km slow and steady canter, after which he seemed content and ready to head home :)

The trails were very muddy, and we had lots of practise in riding through puddles. By the time we were done, he (and my legs!)was entirely covered in mud all the way from the hooves up to just below the saddle flap - now why was it I chose to take him into the great outdoors the day before a show? :P

Naked Riding ;)

Easy now, I wasn't naked, Barokko was :)

I rode Coco (the horse M and I owned together before I bought Barokko) without saddle and bridle every now and then, and got to be pretty good at steering him around at a walk, but had a hard time getting his attention in trot and canter, and downward transitions were mostly a matter of not driving anymore and then just waiting until he decided to stop - very controlled :P

Barokko was waaay more responsive! I could right away steer him exactly where I wanted him to go in both walk and trot, could halt him off my seat within 2 steps of walk and 3-4 steps of trot. I tried cantering also, but only briefly - an uphill bounding canter is great for dressage, but I definitely need to practice before I can ride it properly without a saddle!!

We even tried a few leg yields, it was of course a bit difficult to keep him straight without a bridle, but he did yield nicely to my leg, which was fun.

I always practice steering without reins in my walk warm-ups, but for some reason it feels much more wow to do it without a saddle and bridle on the horse ;)

I want to learn how to hop up onto him from the ground without a saddle, and then make a tack-free dressage kür - a Native American theme might be cool if I can find some suitable music - suggestions are welcome :D

Day Off

Decided to give him a day off today, I wasn't feeling too hot, just wanted to spend time with him without having to concentrate too hard :P

We went for a walk in Dyrehaven. Barokko's always a bit silly when I lead him rather than ride, but I figured he'd better just get used to it ;) So with just a little bit of skippity-hopping we got into the woods, and found a grassy clearing, where I let him graze for a while, before moving on. As soon as I let him graze his focus turns 100% to FOOOOOOOD - as soon as I take him away from the grass he goes into "I'm a silly young horse, everything is super scary!!!"-mode.

Later a short lunging session, where he, ta-daa, for the first time sought contact on the side reins in trot and canter, and ended up with a really good work-out with lots of transitions and tempo changes.

Back to work

After a few walk days I tried trotting him a bit, and he felt good, my "not-quite-right" feeling was gone. Gave him a few more easy days, and then slowly back to work. Rode some dressage for the first time yesterday, a bit harder to loosen up in the neck from only trail rides, but very responsive and eager to work.

He's still a bit swollen in the mornings, but less each day, and it disappears with work. So for now my plan is long walk warm-ups and cool-downs with normal work in between, and besides riding getting him out of the stall and moving as much as possible.

He isn't in as good shape as I'd like, so we'll be doing some conditioning work now that we have Dyrehaven to do it in. The trails here are much easier to work on than they are in Rude Skov where we rode when he was at EGE. I'll be working on interval training, starting with a 15 sec sprint - 30 sec walk - 15 sec sprint pattern, and working up from there. Also, I'll take longer distances in a steady canter. I want to get him in shape to be able to do the Rundt om Sletten route, which is about 4 km total in a steady canter, with energy left over for a sprint toward the castle at the end ;)

Sore Fores

Barokko's forelegs still aren't back to normal after last week's racing up and down the hill in pasture. He's sound on the longe, but I can feel something not quite right about him. It's very faint, but I've learned to trust my gut on these things. So he's on walk only this week, and then I'll see how he looks and feels after that to determine whether I need to get the vet out.

Moving Day

Since July Barokko has been boarded at EGE, but Sunday morning I moved him back to MAK. I'm looking forward to having him close by all day when I'm at work, I can pop in and say hello, check up on him, take him for a walk etc. I've really missed being able to do that while he was at EGE.

It's a 13km ride, which in walk and some trot takes two hours. M rode him, and I biked along beside them. Barokko whinnied a lot on the ride, which he hasn't done in a while - it got the attention of all the horses we passed on the way ;)

We arrived at MAK just in time for lunch ;)

His stall is in the school stable, which means there's lots of activity in lesson times. He's very curious and gets bored if nothing is going on, so hopefully he'll enjoy the attention and buzz without getting stressed about it.

The move also means a feed change, so he's now on 3 kg of Dan Agro's Hesteguf (müsli feed with 30% oats) and 3 hay feedings. I also give him an extra meal of 500g Spiller's Slow Response Energy Mix and 2L lucerne/alfalfa every evening.

Show Time!

Vedbæk Rideklub had a show this weekend, and Barokko and I had entered LC2 and LB2. I decided only to ride the LC2, as I didn't feel he was quite ready for the higher level yet. The "down-side" to a very recognizable horse is that people remember him from show to show, so I don't want to deliver a sub-par performance.

Vedbæk is 2,5 km away, so we rode there, took us 30 minutes exactly. The ride went really well, with just a bit of excitement when crossing a freeway!! He's good with traffic, but has never encountered quite this much, this fast before. He was good about it though, he signalled to me very clearly that he didn't like it very much, but stayed with me - gave me a few steps of passage, which felt AWESOME, but didn't run off or anything.

We got there in time for a good warm-up. After 3 days of light work he was pretty fresh, but very obedient to my aids.

The test arena was not the easiest arena to ride in, lots of things to look at. Also, it was a bit shorter than regulation size, which threw off my geometry in the shallow loops which turned out too small - annoying to loose points on geometry, I have to get better at adjusting to different sizes of arena, riding more by the letters than my feel for how the figures should be.

We finished with 65,22%, and second place, Barokko has earned his first ribbon :D

Scores ranged from 5 to 8:

Our 2 5's were for the halt/salute in the beginning (stepped a teeny bit sideways at the last moment) and the canter depart to the right (very tense, someone had just opened the door into the arena when we were riding right towards it so he was staring at them, couldn't quite get his focus back on me quickly enough).

6's for some trot work where he was a little tense, as well as the too small shallow loops. Also the walk on the diagonal got a 6 because I messed up :( Stopped him too much in the transition from trot, then too eager when I pushed him forward again, so the first 4-5 steps were bad - the rest of the diagonal was great, he stretched perfectly into the rein etc, his walk has improved so much in the time I've had him.

7's for our canter transitions (proud of that, we've been working hard on making good transitions), the rest of the trot work, and our final halt.

8's for both canter circles :D The one thing that has really made a big difference in the quality of his canter is lots and lots of canter and gallop work on trails. He's become so strong and uphill in the canter, it's SO COOL to sit on :D

7's on the collectives, except 6's for Submission (tense in several spots) and Rider (my hands become unsteady when he becomes tense).

The Guessing Game

When I got to the barn this morning, Barokko was standing by the gate for once, Normally he's at the top of the hill in the mornings. When I came into the pasture he came straight over to me, and leaned his head into my arms - while it was very endearing, it wasn't his normal behavior, so a bit puzzling.

I led him into the stable to groom and tack up. He seemed very tired, head down, not as interested in his surroundings as he usually is. I checked everything I could think of for pain or signs of illness, but couldn't find anything.

I decided to ride, and see what happened - maybe he was just tired. He seemed willing enough, but it was as tho his body wasn't really cooperating with his mind - a wierd combination of being fresh in the head and lazy in the body.

I kept the training set pretty short, just loosened him up a bit.

Turned him back out, and again he stayed by the gate - usually he trots away to get to the grass and the other horses... hmmm... I went into the stable to put his gear away, and then came back out to check on him - still standing at the gate, and when he saw me, he whinnied several times at me, clearly trying to signal something, but what?!?!?!

I went to his stall to see if anything there looked out of place. Seemed OK, only thing I noticed was that his water bucket was empty. I filled it and brought it out to him in the pasture, figured it was worth a try.

He drank and drank and drank and drank - I filled up the bucket 4 more times before he had had his fill - that's over 40 L in one go!!! No wonder he wasn't himself, poor guy was dehydrated!

Barokko is in one of 6 stalls watered in buckets, all the others have automatic waterers. Apparently, the barn staff had forgotten to water them >:(

Horses teach me all the time - if they seem off, they ARE off. It's up to us to figure out WHAT the problem is, they can only tell us THAT it is.

Cold morning ride

Fronts still a bit swollen, but completely sound, so hopped on for a light dressage training set. We rode in the outdoor arena, crisp morning air, sun shining bright, beautiful setting!

No collecting work today, kept it nice and easy, working on the basics. Flowing transitions W-T-W, W-H-W, T-H-T. Canter work in a light forward seat, keeping him long and low, steady tempo and rhythm.

Play Hard, Work... Less??

When I came out to the barn yesterday, I saw that Barokko's rug was torn in two places, and very dirty. Underneath the rug, one of the tears in the rug cerresponeded to obvious bite marks that had actually just broken the skin (through a winter turn-out rug, ouch)!! Then I looked down, and noticed that both front fetlocks were slightly swollen.

I induced that he must have spent the day playing hard, running up and down the fairly steep incline in the pasture. Right enough, turns out the school ponies had jumped over the fence from their pasture into the gelding pasture, and had wrecked havoc.

I decided to work him lightly on the longe instead of riding. He's obedient on the longe, but not used to being worked with side-reins. If I can get him to trust them and lean into them more, I'd like to include longing as a regular part of his training on non-riding days, but so far it's just get-used-to-it training.

After walking him I worked him 5 minutes on each rein without the sidereins, to warm him up and get his attention thru lots of transitions. Then I added the sidereins, let him work with them in walk a few minutes, and then just a few rounds each way in trot and canter. He's gotten pretty good at leaning into the reins in walk, and stretches well over the topline there. But in trot and canter he tries to avoid them, shortening and lifting his neck = hollowed back.

Specialization

I work as an instructor at a riding school, teaching private and group lessons to both kids and adults. My main interest as a rider is dressage, but I aim to teach my students to become well-rounded riders first, and then they can chose a discipline.

I've tried to apply the same principle to Barokko. Although I bought him specifically to become my show horse in dressage, I have made it a priority to ensure that he first become a well-rounded horse.

He trail rides perfectly, whether you want a relaxing ride on a long rein, or a good gallop across the fields, he's up for it. He's good in traffic, used to crossing and riding along roads, going over and under bridges etc. He's comfortable over small jumps, can go around an easy course, and is brave (but still careful) over natural obstacles in the woods (logs, banks, going into water etc). His build limits his potential over jumps, otherwise he'd be an awesome hunt horse or, even better, eventer! I might actually one day do a teeny tiny low level event on him ;)

In between all that other training, I've also found time for a bit of dressage ;)

Lazy Saturday

Got up early, got a ride to halfway to work this morning, but I missed the bus I was supposed to catch there, so ended up walking the rest of the way. But the weather was really nice, clear and chilly, and I decided to be in a good mood about it :)

Afterward I grabbed my bike and hurried up to see Barokko. I was tired after work, and had planned beforehand to let today be his day off this week. But once I got there, brought him in from pasture, fed him, groomed him, and redid his braids, I was suddenly totally motivated for dressage. So I tacked him up, and off we went.

Glad I did, I had a terrific ride. I had a wonderful sense of harmony with him in this ride. It was almost meditative, it felt like we were in a world of our own, I just felt his hoof beats, steady and rhythmical in all three gaits, everything felt like it was easy and just came together, and he seemed to be enjoying himself as much as I was, it was really really awesome.

Brrrrr...

Weather's changed the past few days, it's really coooold!

Wed evening I had a lesson, started out running thru the things we worked on last lesson "yup... good... yeah, that works... uh-huh... OK, I think we're ready for some new things!"

Worked on walk pirouettes for the first time, which he quickly understood, will be practicing those some more. He understands the aids to move his fore-/hindquarters, so asking for the pirouette wasn't completely out of the blue, but it's just cool to feel that the previous training I've put in him actually works when I then move on to the next level - working with a young-un is fun :D

We also worked on collection in trot, a few steps at a time so he didn't tire, just introducing him to the concept.

Played with leg yields in trot.

Thurs J had a jumping lesson. U ran a little late, so we went outside to warm up, and I coached them up and down a small bank jump by the outdoor arena - "be prepared for him to jump big" "yeah, yeah I know --- uh OK THAT was big!" ;)

In the lesson thay jumped a series of single jumps, and then finally put them together as a course. Barokko still uses a lot of energy on every jump, so he tires pretty quick - a course of 9 jumps 80-90cm high is quite demanding for him, and he was visibly tired afterward.

We cooled him off with a walk around the barn, but he was still a bit warm when we got back, so we put him in the walker while we packed up our stuff - but Barokko didn't want to be in the walker, once J and I were out of sight he jumped out!!

Today I did some dressage training in the woods. He was very fresh, lots of GO! But steady on the bit, carried himself well over the back, and I decided to sneek in a bit of collection -> PASSAGE!!!! Woo-hoo! THAT was cool :) He could only carry himself for a few steps, but they were awesome :P

Dressage training

M had a good trail ride Sunday, they went explororating and found a good new 1 1/2 hour route with lots of good paths for cantering (or galloping!!).

Monday was his day off, so he had a lazy day out in pasture with the guys.

Today - back to work!

Nicely forward in the walk, I used the jumps set up in the arena (the pony-girls were clearing them up while I warmed up) to practice steering off my seat, riding zig-zag between the jumps, walking over poles on the ground etc. When I picked up the reins I used the jumps to practice turns on the haunches/forehand around the standards.

I started my trot warm-up in rising trot, asked him to stretch forward-down-out into the rein while riding large cricles and serpentines, every now and then trotting over a pole on the ground. Barokko's Friesian half gives him a tendency to carry his head very high and short, so FDO is much harder to acheive in the warm-up with this guy than the other horses I ride, but we're slowly getting better at it.

I added a bunch of walk-trot-walk transitions, working on flowing transitions without tension. I asked for transitions both on circles and on straight lines. Once the W-T-W transitions were going well, I began asking for halts from both walk and trot. A good halt is really hard to get! We're at the point where if I ask for a straight halt he'll tense and throw his head up. If I ask for a halt where he stays through, he'll step sideways at the last second and stand crooked. I can get one or the other, but not both yet ;)

I cantered once around each direction just to loosen up his joints, and then gave him a short break on a long rein to clear his head before we moved on.

Sitting trot work, worked on some smaller circles (10-12m), keeping bend without loosing rythm. Tempo changes in trot, rising for the lengthenings to help him keep the same rythm. Changes of bend on 12-15m figure-8's.

Canter-trot-canter transitions on a 20m circle, tempo changes in canter on the circle and straight lines. Focus on my seat in canter, I have an annoying habit of letting myself tilt ever so slightly IFV in the canter that I'm working on correcting - re:seat work, I LOVE my new saddle (Albion Legend K2)! I'm not fighting the tack like I was in the old one (Stübben Scandica DL), so am more able to actually acheive the seat and position changes I'm working on improving. Barokko moves well in it also, his musculature has also begun changing since I got the new saddle (he'd become significantly more developed on the left side than the right, and now seems to be evening out again).

After the canter work I did some leg yields in walk and trot, in walk he's getting to be very stable, still seems a bit unsure of what to do with his legs in trot ;)

Then back to rising trot, a couple minutes of figure-8's in different sizes, again asking for FDO, stretching the topline. And the cooled him off at the walk. After a couple of minutes of walking he began pulling toward the arena door, stopping every time we got close etc. I kept him walking, figuring he was impatient to get back to the stall because it was feeding time - but as soon as we got into the stable and I put him in cross ties he let out a huge sigh, and peed and peed and peed all over the aisle. Poor guy, he needs to develop a specific "I need to pee" signal (our old horse Coco had that - he'd stop up and very demonstratively stomp the ground with his right fore if he needed to go - very useful!)...

Collected canter - and a log!

Was going to train dressage today, but F lured me out on a trail ride instead. Barokko is thriving in the cooler weather, lots of energy! I was able to use it constructively, we got a lot of good canter departs, and also 2 intervals with some super nice collected canter, of a quality we still have a hard time acheiving in the arena, awesome to feel that it's in there somewhere :)

We found a couple of little logs on the way, and since the footing was good we decided to hop over them. Barokko immediately realized what we were up to, pulled eagerly toward both jumps, judged the distance perfectly, basculed nicely without the huge over-jump he's had a tendency toward earlier. Cool :D

Friday morning

Like most Fridays I had a lesson this morning - and like most Fridays I ended up leaving home a little too late, so I was exhausted from biking hard to get there, stressed about grooming and tacking up, and had too short a warm up, so I didn't get the most out of my lesson. You'd think I'd learn once I'd done that the first time, but for some reason it just keeps happening Friday after Friday... Luckily I'm better at getting to work on time :/

Not so easy...

J's jumping lesson was canceled today, so I gave her a "learn to ride Barokko" lesson, instead. It's harder than it looks. I've made a lot of progress with him in the time I've had him, but watching her ride was almost like seeing him as he was six months ago! Interesting that the progress I make doesn't transfer very well to other riders...

Afterward we went for a trail ride with him and P. P was injured this summer, and has been re-habbed, so she's just now beginning to be back to normal. We've been cantering for a while, but today was the first gallop since her injury.

Barokko may not be built for speed, but he sure does thrive on it! I often throw in a gallop on our trail rides, it's obvious that he absolutely loves it, and he's completely under control throughout, which makes it a lot of fun for the rider, too! P was a little harder to stop ;)

Canter departs

Been working on canter departs lately, he's much more stable in them now, so decided to take them "on the road." After warming up I found a long path with good footing, and off we went, depart-canter-transition, depart-canter-transition, again and again. Every depart was correct, he was stable, round, attentive. Finished with a good gallop, and then cooled him off and turned him out. Only rode for 35 minutes in total, but it was super efficient, and FUN :)

Bad news - someone chewed on his forelock :( It's over 4 inches shorter now, good thing there was lots of it to begin with, sigh. Maybe I'll need to start braiding his forelock also, like I do with his mane...

Herd dynamics & dressage training

Last night was really cold, so Barokko wore his brand new WeatherBeeta Landa Freestyle rug for the first time. When I got to the barn this morning he was warm and dry underneath, without being hot, perfect. It also happens to have the hugest tailflap in the world ;) I don't have to worry about his tail getting rubbed in this rug, that's for sure!

Barokko has Mondays off just hanging out with the other boys in the pasture, so Tuesdays I usually spend a little extra time grooming him. He's been really good about not rolling in the pond (in the middle of the pasture) lately, maybe it's getting to be too cold. That makes my grooming job a little easier ;)

Today the two gelding pastures (pony and horse) were combined, so the herd size doubled in one go. The two groups were familiar with each other already, as they've been on neighboring pastures until now, but there was quite a lot of posturing going on out there today, as they all had to figure out where they stood in this new large group.

Barokko's gotten to be really good friends with W, a 7 yr old red gelding that came into the herd a couple of weeks ago. Neither horse is very dominant on his own, but together they're quite a pair. They stuck close to each other when checking out the newcomers, apparently trying to establish a higher position in the hierarky together than either horse would have been able to alone. Super interesting to watch!

Oh yeah, and we rode a little today, too :P

Dressage training, I worked a lot on my own postition in canter departs, as I have a tendency to tilt slightly forward. Barokko's getting much more stable in the departs, haven't had a wrong lead in many rides now, and he's able to keep more steady contact, so we're beginning to work a little more with the canter, rather than "just cantering." Fun!

We're also working on halts, he's easy to stop, not so easy to keep balanced in the halt. Right now I'm leg yielding him slightly into the halt, which helps to activate his hind legs to keep them under him.

Re legyields, they're looking pretty good at the walk now, and he's beginning to understand that "hey this is the same thing I wlaready know how to do" in trot. But, rider mistake, I've been a little too consistent in only riding up the centerline when I want to practice leg yields, so now it's really hard to go straight! Oops... So today, no leg yields, but lots of centerlines!

Welcome to Barokko's diary!

I've kept a hard copy diary for Barokko since I bought him, and thought it would be fun to post the diary online, too. Only problem with posting the diary on a blog is that you don't get to see all of the little drawings :)

I've had Barokko since January 2007. My primary interest is dressage, but we also do a lot of trail riding and once a week a little jumping. Barokko's been to one show so far, where we rode LC1 and LC2 (Training level). Our scores were 62.92% and 63.91%, and earned us 2nd place in both classes. He also did a 70 cm clear round pony class at the same show, with 0 faults.

Besides myself, there are 2 other riders who regularly ride Barokko - M who trail rides him every Sunday, and J who jumps him every Thursday. Dressage is off limits to everyone but me (and occasionally my trainer).