Cabin Fever

Cupid looked much better after the first day of soaking and wrapping, but I never saw any drainage so I thought the abscess would probably come back to cause problems.  However after 5 days of wrapping Cupid seemed fine.  He stayed in his stall since his pasture was a soupy mess.  Since he only got hand walked, for my first lesson last week I suggested we just do ground work and lunging, to make sure he was sound.  I thought he still looked just a tad off to start, but looked fine by the end.  We alternated between trotting and cantering, a few strides in each gait, which my trainer said would help build strength.  The transitions looked good.  Cupid got strong a few times, but overall looked good.

The following day I got on him for the first time since the abscess, and he was a little naughty!  I didn't get to ride until after work, so it was dark and there were a few other people in the arena.  Cupid was pretty quick at the trot, and kept his head up in the air.  He also spooked a few times, doing what I call the "teleport" where he does a few quick steps in some direction.  Luckily it usually just lasts a few steps and then he is back under control.  We did a lot of circles and serpentines at the walk to try to get him to relax.  He finally settled down a little, and we did a little trotting.

I told my trainer that our ride was not great, and she offered to ride Cupid the next day.  She said he was "fresh at first" but was excellent by the end.  When he's like that I need to focus on getting him to accept the leg.  I did a light ride that evening, just 20 minutes of walk/trot, and Cupid was much better behaved.

The following day we had our lesson, and had to do it in the evening.  As soon as I got on I knew it would be an "exciting" ride, Cupid was keyed up.  We did a little walk each direction, then my trainer said to get him trotting.  He was being quick again, and had a few spooks.  We kept working, mostly staying on a circle trotting, bending to the inside and a little counter bending.  Then Cupid let out a giant buck!!  It totally caught me by surprise, but luckily I stayed on.  I told my trainer that my form may not be great, but at least my balance is pretty good!  She asked me if I was okay continuing, or did I want to longe him a bit.  I decided to continue.  After the next spook I was almost ready to give up, but my trainer said she thought we were almost there getting Cupid listening.  I thought about throwing in the towel but said okay and hesitantly got Cupid trotting again.

He was pretty good the rest of the ride, though I couldn't fully relax.  My trainer said it only took 15 minutes until he was good, but it felt like much longer!  We mostly stayed on the circle, continuing with our bending and counter bending, changing my posting diagonal if he felt like he was getting quick, and worked on shortening and lengthening the trot a bit.  When Cupid was more relaxed, and the arena less hectic, we finally went all the way around.  My trainer kept telling me to touch the saddle with my pinky finger, to make sure I wasn't holding the reins too short and also so I sit up straight.  We even did a little cantering, twice each direction, and Cupid was good.

It is a little scary for me riding Cupid when he is not his usual sweet, slightly lazy self.  But this was good practice since he still gets nervous in new places (though thankfully he usually isn't this bad!)  I guess I underestimated how important turnout is to Cupid.  He seems fine in his stall, he is relaxed as long as he is in there but as soon as I take him out, even just to hand walk, he is a different horse.

The next day I turned him out, and that afternoon we went on a nice relaxed hack around the property.  I was very happy to have my horse back!

Key to his happiness

Treating an Abscess - homemade soaking boot

It's that time of year again.  Cupid and I had several great lessons, and then last week as soon as I asked him to trot it was clear he was lame.  It came on suddenly and there weren't any other symptoms, looked like an abscess.  I packed his foot with ichthammol and wrapped it, with plans to get some epsom salt and soak it.

Last time I soaked Cupid's foot I had him stand in a flat rubber feed tub.  It worked okay, but he did pick his feet up out of it a few times and made a bit of a mess sloshing water around.  At Walgreens next to the epsom salt I saw something I thought might make a handy makeshift soaking boot: a "Reusable Waterproof Cast & Wound Protector."  It is a heavy duty plastic sleeve with a rubber top, made to go over a person's leg cast but turns out it works quite well as a horse soaking boot!

I put the epsom salt in the "boot."  Then I put his hoof through the hole in the top and pulled it up on his leg, where the rubber top sealed nicely just over his knee.  I spotted a watering can next to the hose, and used that to pour warm water in.  Cupid was very good and stood still while I did it.  (He was eating his grain, so that may have helped!)  I left the boot on for almost 20 minutes, and it stayed on nicely.  Cupid was good, he shifted around a little but was mostly content to stand there and eat with the boot on.

Cupid was moving better by the next day, but I haven't seen any drainage so we're going to keep taking it easy and keep packing and maybe soaking the foot.

Tune Up

Usually my trainer only rides Cupid if I'm out of town so I don't get to watch, but since I had some time off work I asked if we could add an extra session with her riding.  I thought it would be helpful for him to have her clear up some of the mixed signals I've been sending!  Plus it is fun for me to see how far he's come.

She started walking Cupid to warm up, and said it was important from the get go to make sure he's moving forward.  Then she took up the contact at the trot, and Cupid was very accepting of it.  He looked very soft and round.  I always have a harder time getting Cupid to bend left, but my trainer said she didn't feel it, and in fact thought going to the left is easier since he doesn't pop his shoulder out like he does to the right.  My right leg is stronger though, and my trainer said she (and as a result most of her horses) tend to be stronger going to the left.

In the canter they did some shallow loop serpentines, as an intro to some counter canter work.  She rode down the diagonal a few times, and Cupid did not get any automatic lead changes but my trainer said she wasn't concerned and thought he would get it pretty soon.

Then they did a few jumps, the same ones we did in our lesson earlier in the week.  I noticed that Cupid did have his head a lot higher than during flatwork, but he seemed pretty steady and was good about taking off from the base of the jump.

Goals for 2017

Happy 2017!  Cupid is turning 6 this year, so he's really not a baby anymore and I can't use that as an excuse!  Generally we are going to keep working on what we've been doing, 28th the goal on having a confident and relaxed horse and rider.  But I have  thought of some specific goals for the new year:

1) Sit up and keep leg on instead of ride up Cupid's neck with a chokehold on the reins when I get nervous.  This will be a hard one for me.

2) Learn to do flying lead changes and walk to canter transition - Cupid and I both need to work on this as I never really learned.

3) Straightness - especially over jumps.

4) Get comfortable cantering courses.

Not really a goal but one thing I'm hoping for is to get my own truck and trailer! 

I would also like to do some dressage events and maybe a hunter pace.

Increasing Expectations

My trainer and I often talk about how I sometimes still ride Cupid like a green horse, since it doesn't seem like that long ago that he was a three year old only trained for racing.  Sometimes I don't even realize what he is capable of now!  Plus to be honest, a lot of it (like turning with my inside rein or using a leading rein) is just bad habits.  But it seems like Cupid is starting to expect more from me!  We have been working on getting him to jump from the base of a jump (by using ground poles in front of the jump, as well as me sitting in the saddle to the base), and I've also been working hard on improving my position (not collapsing on his neck or jumping ahead), as well as supporting him with my leg coming to a jump.  So when I messed up the approach coming to an oxer with the barrels underneath, he was not very happy with me!  He landed and started tossing his head and getting quick.  I almost thought he was going to buck for a second!  But I sat up and he came to a stop.  My trainer told me I totally just let me reins go slack and collapsed on his neck, and that confused Cupid since it's not what we've been doing. 

I was a little nervous after that, so we went back to the cross rail that was our warm up fence.  We trotted it a few times, then cantered it a few times.  My trainer told me to lean back, repeating it several times as I approached the jump.  Even though it felt like I was leaning way back, I think I was actually just in the correct spot.  I felt very balanced, and could actually let Cupid lift me out of the saddle as he jumped. 

Then we went back and did the entire course we had been working on, which was the cross rail and six strides down to a vertical, then go around the end of the arena and jump the brush box on the diagonal, then go around the opposite end in a figure  down the other diagonal to the barrel oxer.  We did the course twice through, and it felt really good!  Cupid is very responsive, he just needs me to ride correctly! 

Earlier in the lesson we did some canter work, and tried to see if I could get him to do a flying lead change.  We did not get it.  My trainer may ride him and work with him on it, I think he will figure it out pretty quick with someone more experienced guiding him. 

After a nice dry period the paddocks have almost gotten dry, but it is raining again today. :/ 

In his cozy fleece blanket, enjoying his grain

Feeding him apples is a messy experience!

Freezing

Winter is upon us, full force.  It has been really cold in the mornings, I can't even feel my toes when I ride!  It's not just my imagination, it was literally freezing cold (32 degrees). 

On Saturday morning Cupid and I shared the arena with two dressage horses.  They were practicing some pretty advanced movements and I had a hard time avoiding them because I was never sure which direction they would be going.  We had one close call but luckily avoided a collision.

Cupid started out a little slow, I think due to the cold.  I let him walk for a while to warm up, then we moved to a trot and worked on some circles and serpentines.  I asked for a canter on the left and he just trotted faster.  I tried again with the same result, so I realized I needed to get him in front of my leg and we did some shortening and lengthening at the trot.  Then we picked up the canter on his easier side (right lead).  He was still a little slow, I think he flattened to a four beat gait at one point so on the long sides I got up in two point and asked him to move out a little.  Then we cut across the short side of the ring, and when I asked him to come to a trot in the middle he correctly anticipated a simple lead change and that we were turning left.  This has tended to work - he got the left lead.  We went around a few times to the left.

We took a little walk break, and Cupid hung his head like he was exhausted.  Such a drama queen sometimes!  We did a little more trotting, then we picked up the left lead canter on a circle.  We cantered over a ground pole a few times, and I focused on sitting back and trying to get him to the base of the pole.

On Sunday I put out several poles on the ground.  We did a little trot course over them.  Then I cantered them but just one lead at a time.  With the cold his transitions were a little sticky.  But he was very relaxed cantering over the poles and not trying to jump them or taking off the long spots.  After about half an hour in the ring we went on a little ride around the property.  There was frost on the grass, and I could hear ice cracking as we walked across a little puddle.  Cupid startled a bit at a tarp that blew in the wind but kept walking.  Despite the cold we had a good weekend and I'm happy I was able to get two rides in.

Little Bro Wins!

Cupid has a half brother one year younger than him, named Global Magician.  He is a chestnut gelding by Globalize, and was born on the same farm as Cupid.  I never met him, but I follow his racing career.  Global Magician has had a lot more success racing than Cupid, and has placed in a few stakes races!  His record is 20-3-6-5, and he has earned just under $170,000!  Currently he is in Florida, and the race he won was a claiming race, 5 furlongs on the turf course.