How do we solve a problem like Fiera? (dr. deb part 2)

Ok, everyone sing it now...to the tune from the Sound of Music...Got that song in your head? good...

Well, today I let Fiera out to observe her so I could figure out where she was going through the fence. She showed me, I caught her, put her on some nice grass and fixed the fence. Part of it wasn't hot...fixed that; part of it had a gap...fixed that; part of it was only 1 strand...fixed that. It took a couple hours, but it was a nice day and I was proud of my handy work. I turned Fiera out, she went back to her corner and ran through the newly hot, newly second strand added fence...sigh. So, I went out and caught her and put her in the round pen again. Poor thing. I hate lock her up . I fixed the fence again, better, stronger, faster (hotter) I will have to to wait till tomorrow to try it out again.

The horses grazed my trailer yard while I fixed fence. I caught them to put them away one at a time and worked on teaching the first steps of Spanish Walk, which Dr. Deb showed us this weekend. We were to tap, tickle, or otherwise irritate the horses into picking one front foot and then giving praise and/or treats. Fiera was first and was very slow to pick up her feet for treats. After awhile though, one little tap would get her to pick up her foot. I put her away and caught Liberty, who really just wanted to eat treats. I repeated the same tasks and he very quickly learned to pick up just one foot when I tapped on his foot. I put him away. Dixie was begging me to pay attention to her by this time. She loves treats and would do just about anything to get one. Plus, she had been watching me show the other two horse these instructions. One light tap and she picked up her foot high and got a treat. We repeated it many times and then I put her away...she still wanted to do more. Dr. Deb said to teach it about 3 minutes at a time, multiple times per day if you can. Start with one foot and get a consistent pick up and reward system going. Then you can start on the other foot. I'm honestly not sure when you are supposed to start wanting them to lift and hold either foot, but for now, I'm just happy that they are picking them up.

On the second day of the clinic we started doing trot work. Liberty trots way, way too fast and I have trouble finding my internal metronome to slow him down. I learned that all my trail work in the s hack bridle has been very bad for his neck. He has what Dr. Deb calls a broken neck, which means he bends at the third vertebrae instead of at the poll where he is supposed to bend. She says it's not terrible and we can fix it, but I have to never, ever, ever ride in the S hack again. Honestly, I don't know if I'm ready to hang it up completely, but I'm committed to using the snaffle for all training from now on. I may get really comfortable with the snaffle out in the open really fast, but time will tell. I now realize how much I have been pulling on his head. Whenever we picked up a trot in the area I could find no middle ground. we either trotted way too fast, or we stopped trotting altogether. I could spin him down with small circles into a smaller trot, but the minute I let him out of his bend to trot in a straight line he becomes very fast and chargey. I had none of these problems with my S hack, so I admit that I'm sad to have to give it up. However, by the end of the day, with me singing whatever songs I could in my head to keep my rhythm slower, we were trotting slower. It wasn't great, but it was better. So, now I have leg yield, turn on the fore and trot circles (and never forget head twirling) in my repertoire.

Busy Sewing Sunday

We were up early for church in spite of the time change and are now home after doing chores and having brunch. I have a bunch of embroidery to do for a NATRC riding coming up, so I'm sitting at my computer with the machine next to me so I can stop it if the slightest thing goes wrong. I did about half the shirts on Friday, but today am doing the other half. Liz Scott, the ride Manager, likes to do shirts for her helpers and volunteers. We took her logo for the ride and turned it into a single color silhouette and that's what I'm using for the shirts. I tried to use the actual clipart and turn it into the design, but my software just never made it look right. These are turning out nice and though it's not as colorful as the original, it still conveys as similar logo to the patches she is giving out. After I finish up the shirts I have a sewing project for prizes to start on. I just find that I'm better off doing one task at a time. If I start sewing, then I don't watch my embroidery and then mistakes happen.

Tomorrow starts spring break, which will end up being a little more break-like for Maggie than I had originally intended. Tomorrow I'm going to take her and her horse to Sprite's for riding camp. We're also going to take Joe Bear for the week so that he can get some extra attention from all the little kiddos. If he works out, he may stay through summer, since this time of year is bigger and has more students. It's good for everyone. I'll even kick in food money if I need to so that he has everything he needs. She can keep food in front of him more often than I can and he'll get to be with Deli. Flying G had a tragedy this past week, when an arsonist burned up all their nice round bales. They are still needing some donations, but they did find someone to sell them some hay at cost since they are carrying on a Christian ministry. They are selling t-shirts too, which Maggie and I have purchased to help with the fund raising. Joe will fit right in and he will have constant attention for the next week. He just eats up being messed with and Maggie goes for lessons and we can get him back anytime. I was feeling nostalgic for Deli yesterday and thought about trying to borrow her back, but she's such a good lesson horse, Sprite said no way. Loaning Joe will be good since now I have room to help train a foster horse for a friend.

Peter bought me the Sims 3 stuff pack so I will be installing that shortly and playing with my sims while I watch my machine. Thank you Peter!

I really wanted today to be lazy, but there is just too much to do. Notes to write...Maggie is out mowing the lawn...I want to watch the movie Up in the Air Starring George Clooney later, after the shirts are done. It's too hard to hear the TV while I'm embroidering. And Maggie has some more long division to do so that she can be free to enjoy her riding camp tomorrow.

This week, on Wednesday, Maggie is going to Alexa's to hang out. I'm going to a riding clinic on Thursday through Sunday and Peter is taking Parrish Lay Ministry (PLM) classes starting Saturday at Calvary Lutheran Church. He has been an assistant minister at King Of Glory since last summer and this is the next step in his spiritual journey. My understanding is that the classes are 1 time per month for 3 months in spring and summer and this will go on for 2 years. He is excited to be entering this ministry. Our church, King of Glory, is a wonderful little church that needs to grow. Our pastor is a wonderful lady who always has interesting sermons. We have found it to be a loving church home.

Speaking of King of Glory, I played the piano in church today. I haven't played the piano in public in 15 or 20 years. I used to be a really good pianist, but lack of use has really cut my skills down. I played a piano/organ duet with the organist and it went really well. We played the postlude so that no one would listen too closely. I played For the Beauty of the Earth. On April 25, I'm going to play another one Crown him with Many Crowns...It's harder and it will take me that long to learn it, I fear. I was pleased and surprised that I able to play the song today with only a couple day's practice. I am getting my own key to the church so I can go up there and use the piano any time I want. I only own a keyboard at home now.

Yesterday Maggie and I helped with the LBJ Grasslands clean up project and clipped branches and picked up trash. Dixie proved to be quite good at standing still for clipping and trash pick up. Maggie was able to pick up trash using a long, pointed stick and speaking cans and bottles and putting them in her trash bag. I clipped branches so that anyone trotting around corners wouldn't be hit in the face with branches. There are two rides in The Grasslands in the next month and the trail needed work. We had really poor tools, and got a late start but had fun anyway. We were starving on the way home and ate dinner at a new place called Don Jose's, which I didn't mind, but probably wasn't very good...I was just really hungry.

I rode Liberty in a bit I had borrowed from Betsy and except for a small run on one side of his face, he took to it really well. I also found him able to eat in it and his mouth was softer and foamier than any bit I have used to date. It was a nice ride. Frankie got a nice run too.

Maggie has dachshund fever. She really wants her own puppy and with her dad's help, it's likely to happen...but not too soon. She has to save up her own money to buy/adopt her puppy. To that end, I have a house and yard slave hehehe. She is outside mowing the grass right now. She gets $15/mowing to mow it. If I can her to trim, I'll pay her $20. she's also more set on doing her chores at the moment as well...cleaning her room, doing her laundry, cleaning the bathroom, taking out the trash...gotta love a kid who is too young to hold a real job. Maggie's other business venture is going to be her own horse cookies. I told her I'd get her started, but she had to pay me back, just like a "real" business. It's called Sweet Boy and Gorgeous horse cookies. She's going to design her own logo and Liberty and Dixie are the poster children. She will probably branch out into dog cookies too and selling them at NATRC rides.

So much to do, so little time

Cat's son was rushed to the ER yesterday. At first they thought that he had been given a drug called GHB, since he had many of the symptoms of this drug, but after he became coherent he remembered his day and he hadn't eaten or drunk anything that wasn't his own. They decided today it must have been heat stroke. They couldn't check for the drug as they said the ER lab didn't have the ability to test for it. It's a date rape drug and it's known as Liquid X or Liquid Ecstasy. It can sometimes be given along with a drink or candy and kids might not know it's been given to them.

Today is my "desk day" It's the day I run errands and pay bills. My bills are way backed up...so I guess that means next I will have no money once I pay them, but hey, that's why I work. I had the guy come to mow my field this am and that took a lot longer than it should have.

I got to play with Fiera for awhile when I was at the field. She was very ornery. I decided that I need to review some of my foal/yearling materials before I proceed. She has begun to kick out if you push her away and she's very pushy. I spent most of my time this morning working on the yoyo game to get her out of my space. She was a very quick study, but she became offended when I would ask her to leave my space and then try to reel her back in. Little goober wanted to stay away. Then I worked a little on circling and giving the hind quarters. This didn't go very well. She kept running into me forcing me to move my feet before starting her circle. Since I lose when I move my feet, and I lose if she plows me down, I think I will have to start here. I may call Jennifer up and have some lessons to get us started. Since she's just a yearling, I don't think I can work with her long at a time, but I'm definitely seeing some very obstinant characteristics. She's sticky and doesn't move...unless it's her idea. I did finally get her to move around me in a circle without plowing me down and I did get her to back away from me and face me, but I haven't really gotten her to yielding her hind quarters when I ask her to. But, I didn't want to make it too much work, so I let it go for the day when I got what I wanted a couple times.

I'm wondering if ground work with a yearling qualifies as aerobic exercise? She gave me a serious workout. She's really grown lately and I can see I need to spend more time teaching her to be more respectful. One of the things I have been doing today while I pay bills is listening to my Clinton Anderson DVD on Foals and Yearlings as a refresher course.

I have been sorting out papers on my desk, paying bills and feeling slightly depressed. I have money coming in, but it's not here yet...bills are due...it's just one of those things that happens from time to time.

I have been contemplating how much I enjoy being off work on Tuesday while Maggie is at her dad's. I would very much like to have a day to myself like this next year and not have to go to springtown. However, I also have a hard time turning down the $200/week of pay that I get from them. I'm just thinking at this point. I'm sure I won't give up the school.

I have been watching reruns of ER on TNT. I have been enjoying them, but think I might be getting tired of it. I don't have room on my DVR for other stuff anymore. I have seen them all before. I just wanted to watch through to get to the ones I hadn't seen.

Due to Maggie's horse having trouble with the heat, I think we're going to have to stay home this weekend. I dread having to cancel. I know the ride needs riders and we were really looking forward to going. I just don't want to risk Dixie's health putting her in a hot trailer to and from the ride. Maggie has another horse to borrow if the girth gall doesn't heal before the weekend (another reason not to go) and we decide to go riding.

Exercise day 3

Today I got up again and did my 30 minute workout with Maya. I am even considering bumping up to 45 minutes a few days per week so I can get a full cardio workout three days along with the specific body area work. Not really ready to do that yet, but in another week or two I think I will.

I have replaced drinking coffee and looking at the computer first thing with a cup of hot tea and a work. Not a bad trade off!

I couldn't ride Liberty yesterday b/c when I rode him Tuesday I got a lead rope stuck under the saddle and I made a bruised spot in his back. He didn't complain the whole time I rode him so I didn't know anything was wrong. Poor guy! I did get his feet trimmed though and played with him for awhile, so that was nice.

Maggie had a good round pen session with Dixie. She had her really paying attention and doing what she wanted. I was really proud of her.

We were going to ride today, but Maggie has a cold, so we're chilling at home.

Great Day of Riding

Maggie and I had a fantastic ride today. We headed out to Benbrook Lake to ride today. I have spent alot of time working on obstacles lately and I think Liberty has just been tired of it. We had a behavioral incident on Friday, which included me hitting dirt (hate it when that happens). I took yesterday off to recover, but today we had decided we needed to get out there and move! Liberty really doesn't like all the tiny detail work, so it was time to do something he did like. We really didn't move very fast, but we did move at will. We mixed it up, some of me in front, some of Maggie/Dixie in front. We had lots of interesting terrain and we stopped a few times to work on backing or stepping on rocks, but mostly we just moved out. We rode for about 3 hours, but I have no idea how much ground we covered. I don't think we went very fast really, as we spent a lot of time walking very pokey walks to offset their more enthusiastic trots/canters.

I used a kimberwicke on him today (still looking for the perfect bit) and he was really good. Of course, I realize that there is a honeymoon period involved with bits, but today was as good as any he's worked in. Because of the curb I was able to get his head back up when he tried to graze and I was able to get the control I wanted without a lot of pressure in his mouth. I know that he may go better on long trail rides in a s hack or some sort of English hack, b/c his mouth is so small and he had trouble eating with it in his mouth. I still prefer the idea of a snaffle, but I have to admit that he was very happy with this in his mouth. For now, I will use it, to see if it's what will work for the Scamper. I still will do the bending exercises in a snaffle at least 1 day per week. If i think he's going to be stressed b/c of the bit, i will switch back to the sidepull for the competition. He did place 2nd in it before, after all, but now he feels better in a bit.

Then we came home and I got the bright idea to check in with the Wii fitness coach, who berated me (electronically that is) for not being more consistent with my workouts. So, I ended up putting on the 15 yoga routine which turned out to be more work than my 3 hour ride. My muscles are shaking. Maya promised relaxation and stretching, but now I have twitchy muscles.

I have been contemplating what to do for Lent...I have decided...to give up Coffee. It's the one thing I can't seem to live without in my day, so it's the perfect thing to give up as a sacrifice. I will still drink hot tea for breakfast, so I'm not really trying to completely decaffeinate, but this will keep me away from Starbucks and McDonalds early in the morning...well, I can get hot tea at Starbucks, but since all they do is give me a tea bag and some hot water, I think this is a no brainer!

Tomorrow am, we are getting up at 7 to work out before work. Maggie has no school tomorrow and the plans I thought I had in place for her have fallen through, so she is going to be at work with me. I had wanted the day off, but since the Activity Director left, and she hasn't been replaced yet, they really needed me to work tomorrow and Maggie doesn't really want to be home by herself all day. I figure she can bring her computer and play Sims, do 1-1 visits, pass out mail and help me bring people to groups.

Great Day to Ride

Today was a hot day in Texas. It reached almost 80 degrees or maybe it was over 80...not really sure. Of course, tomorrow it will be 40, so I guess it's nice to have a pretty day now and then.

I rode in my friend's saddle today. She bought it for her horse before he died and it's been sitting in my house ever since. Wow, it was an awesome saddle. It needs to be rigged a little differently, but it was really balanced...it was also 30 pounds.

I rode Deli for a little while, but I could tell I wasn't doing her any good. She was kind of gimpy with me on her, but she looks great on the ground running away from me when she doesn't want to get caught, so it's hard to know what's going on with her. Can horses fake being lame? I have someone who is interested in her as a therapeutic riding horse and I may be ready to send her on. It's so hard because I have had her for 8 years and I will really miss her. However, she isn't a lot of fun to ride anymore, as she is pretty slow. Of course, that makes her really safe for kids for lessons and for my husband, which is a great thing. It's not like I can sell her. I just need to find her a good home where she can do light duty. I have had a couple people ask me about her and I just can't seem to make up my mind what to do. On one hand it would be nice to save a little money. On the other hand, I fantasize about her making a comeback. I don't get how she can look so good on the ground and feel so gimpy from the saddle. I wonder if I worked her more in hand, if she'd get stronger and more sound under saddle or if she'd just get worse. She really needs to be a broodmare somewhere, but today's horse market doesn't really afford many people who want broodmares. She's got great Shagya bloodlines. I wish I knew really why she was lame. I know the official diagnosis is ringbone, but it just seems like there is more going on that that.

Then I rode Liberty (after chasing him around for 20 minutes while he played his catching game) I put him in the round pen, where is will be my guest this week while we work on this catching thing. I am taking him to the Dr. Deb Bennett clinic in East Texas at the end of the week so I hope to learn some insight into his behavior and learn to work in better harmony with him. We did a lot of canter depart work, which we had never really done in an "arena" setting before. He wasn't really good on his leads, but he was good about listening, taking the half halt and taking a nice, quiet canter depart. I also rode him in the combo bit today and had little fighting. I had it on the second hole so more nose/curb action than bit, but he was good. It was a short, but productive workout. Just getting him to pay attention to me in the field was huge. Then I tried open the hot wire gate (it was off of course) which didn't go so well, but I did finally get him to stand still next to it. Good progress for the day. I'm sure he will get lots of exercise running around the round pen tonight.

Tomorrow, it will be cold.

A Wonderful Christmas

This has been a great holiday. We started our Christmas late this am. We had gone to church at midnight so we didn't get to bed till really late, hence no early morning for us. We looked in our stockings, which contained items my mom sent us (Santa Grandma) and my dad sent us a few things. I started playing with Maggie's flip video camera and recorded most of our present opening, however, when I unloaded the videos to the computer, I evidently forgot to save them properly, so all our tributes to Santa Grandma got lost. sigh. Peter did take a lot of photos, so I will have them later and I will video Maggie trying on all the cool clothes she was sent.

My best gift today was the video here of Peter riding with me and Maggie! We had such a great time. Then we ate Chinese food. Then we came home and Maggie played with her new Wii game, Wii cheer, and we watched her. I also got a Wii game called Wii Fitness Coach, that will make me a workout to do each day. Since I am trying so hard to get more movement into every day, it's one more part to my arsenal. Now we're watching White Christmas, which is something I have done almost every year since I was 12. While watching White Christmas I looked around on Itunes to see if I could buy the soundtrack to it because I love the songs so much, but it evidently was never released due to the contracts of the stars at the time. You can get a CD which has some of the original artists singing the songs from the movie, but it's not an actual soundtrack album. This was disappointing, but at least now I will quit looking for it.

I had it easy this year for shopping. We made the conscious decision earlier this fall not to buy (or receive) a bunch of presents, so our holiday has been a lot more mellow than usual. There has been no frantic shopping, which I have really enjoyed. I did decided to sew a few items for Peter and Maggie...mostly that didn't get finished but through the whole process I managed not to get worked up about it. As a result, Peter got his cool chef's hat, but not his pants, though they are in progress and the chances are pretty good he'll get them soon. Maggie was going to get a purse made out of brightly colored fat quarters, but that didn't happen either. And I was going to make Maggie a shirt, but no such luck. Lucky for me, I have a very understanding family, and for the most part, they would rather I not flip out trying to get so much stuff done.

We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve with Shawn and Alexa at his house. He made a standing rib roast which was very good, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes and I made 7 layer salad. Peter made Creme Brulee for dessert...all tasty stuff. Then we went to church, Shawn included, and Peter and I played music for the preludes section of the service, 30 minutes before the service began. Pastor Cathy evidently really enjoyed our music and has asked us to play something for Epiphany sunday in a couple weeks. So, we will have to get practicing.

Tomorrow, maggie and I are are going to see Marley and Me at the Movie Tavern and I will trim the horses's feet if it's not raining all day. I'm taking Fiera to my friend Teresa's house for a couple months to get her weaned and give her more room to run, and I need to do her feet before I leave her there. Liberty's feet area also pretty long, but I'm hoping after I ride him at Teresa's I can rasp them a little and not have to work at it so hard...also since it's supposed to rain, it will soften everyone up. I will need to buy a new knife and rasp soon. The rasp is getting old and the knife was never all that good. Then Sunday Maggie and I will head over to Teresa's to spend the night and ride. I have to work on Tuesday this week, but that's the only day. If the weather will hold, I hope to ride to the park at some point in the next week.

Fall CTR schedule

I thought I should post this separate because it's going to be long and horsey related...

Maggie and I competed in 2 NATRC rides this fall. I hadn't planned to do any since we hadn't really competed much this year, but I found out that if the horse was in three rides and the rider was in three rides that they would have points that added up for them even though they only did 2 rides together and weren't eligible for a team score. I had previously thought they had to have three rides together to qualify for any awards at all.

Maggie and I completed the Benefit ride the beginning of October. We had a great time and Maggie received a 2nd in Horse and 3rd in Horsemanship and Liberty and I both got fourth. He did really well and only lost 4 points...mostly due to me changing bits and making him uncomfortable.

Two weeks later (last weekend) we went to Horsemasters where Dixie won in Horse and Maggie got second in Horsemanship. Liberty and I did not place, but we had good scores and I was mostly pleased...considering he tossed my butt before we timed out and almost lost me again later. The weather was perfect and Peter took lots of great photos. , which he is still going through. One of Liberty and me is below.

Weird Day/quick update

It's been an odd day of running and running and not accomplishing much. I took Maggie and Jena over to Alexa's this am to help her paint and they ended up staying there all day. Tomorrow I will head over with clothes and we'll all go to church.

I had planned to ride, but trimmed feet instead and reorganized my stuff for next weekend.

I helped Cat sell her trailer, for which I earned $100. I hated to take her money but she insisted and I know I can use it...it will help pay for the ride next weekend and I can send another $100 to Maggie's saddle. It looked really empty to have her trailer gone and the tack trailer is now really crowded. I have to get a shed of some kind.

Friday Dr. Lampe came and did all the yearly stuff. Fiera has her own coggins now. She was awful for him! Deli is on some stuff that is Legend and Adequan combined and I have to give her an IV shot for the next four weeks, but it might help her ringbone.

Last weekend we placed really well in a large class. i was shocked. I got fourth and he got fourth. I knew he had been a good boy, but I never dreamed. I would have done better I think but I cost us points with changing his bit. Maggie got third and Dixie placed second, so she was pleased too. We have lots to practice...

Great lesson today

Peter came with us to Jennifer’s house and brought his camera. He took over 400 photos and ended up with 50 he liked really well. Here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/pyovich/LessonDaySeptember2008#

Unfortunately, when I see photos of myself riding all I think is “oh, gosh, I didn’t feel fat till I saw the pictures” So, I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that we just have more work to do and then not beat myself up.

Today Maggie spent time playing with one of Jennifer’s horses while Jennifer worked with Dixie on the ground. Dixie proved to be really good at tuning Jennifer (and Maggie) out and Jennifer spent a lot of time smacking her with the carrot stick and rope. Jennifer hates smacking horses, but she had to get her attention and keep it! For now we have decided to take more lessons and spend less time competing…For Maggie that translates to no time competing. No fall NATRC rides for her or me. We want to wait till Maggie is really good and can be competitive and can have nice comments written on her card. Her next attempt will be the trail challenge at Teresa’s the end of November.

My lesson was another passenger lesson. IT started out by Jennifer showing me some tips for teaching Liberty not to crowd the next horse only it morphed into something completely different. She discovered his draw was broken. HE has never been “drawable” in the round pen and always does outside turns. He never just comes in. So, I rode and she directed. I rode with no bridle at all and when things got fast I was instructed to sit deep and tight in the saddle. It was pretty exciting at times and I felt like I was being whipped right and left, but I stayed on and we had so much fun. She showed me how to actually move him sideways on the ground, which is something that so many people say (teach the sidepass on the ground first) but no one has ever actually shown me how to do that before today. I have pretty light hands (according to past dressage instructors) but every time I go without a bridle, I see how much I’m really pulling. I started teaching him how to backup without reins today and I learned a lot about how to steer him without a bridle too…he wasn’t very good at some of it, and it made me aware again how much I resort to using my bit and reins. I think if I’m practicing this alone, I will have to have a bridle on him because I need the ability to steer if he doesn’t do as I ask but I now have a ton of things to practice.

The practice comes at a good time. Next weekend is the Parelli Tour so I won’t be trailering anywhere, but just riding at home for the next week. The following week is the Benefit ride, but it looks like I won’t be going to that either…I don’t think. I’m torn about taking myself to it and competing, but I know that Maggie would be sad if I went without her.

I don’t think we’ll stay off Dixie altoegher, but I think that we’ll spend more time on the ground trying to get her softer and lighter.

Sad News on an otherwise good day

I found out an old family friend, Dr. Ben Chlapek, had died last week. His oldest children used to babysit me and I used to sit for his younger children. They moved to TX when I was still in High School, though some of their older children remained my hometown of Liberty, MO so I always had Chlapeks in my life. Then, when I moved to Waco, near Temple, where they lived, I saw them on breaks from school. They were just really great folks and I'm sad that Dr. Chlapek is no longer with us. If I had known he died last week, I would have been at the funeral, but I just found out today.

Maggie had a lesson with Jennifer today. She took Karen's horse Elijah and Dixie. Jennifer pronounces Dixie the winner of our personality (or rather horsenality) contest. So, tomorrow evening I'm going to take Elijah home and I guess we're buying Dixie from Cat. Maggie is happy.