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.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
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!
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!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
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...
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...
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, November 12, 2007
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
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...
The vet's taking a look at him today, hopefully he can tell me something...
Friday, November 09, 2007
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
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
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
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
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
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
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.
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 ;)
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 ;)
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