This Week's Happenings

Thank you everyone for your comments about Nickels, I really appreciate them. We knew he'd have a much shorter life than a normal cat, so we tried to spoil him and give him as much special treatment as possible. We didn't expect it to be this short though. He was ready to go though- I knew the look as soon as I saw it Tuesday morning. I think Penny misses him a lot. She didn't like him going into the carrier and tried to go with him out the door. She has always had him around, even if they weren't buddies. Now, she's walking around the house as if on patrol, going into "his spots" and looking for him. She's developed a very low tolerance for Sophie, who doesn't quite get it and just wants to play. Penny has also become very clingy and needy, which is ok. We're happy to pick her up and give her hugs and pets, because we're clingy and needy too.

Look what muscle is growing at the top/base of his neck!! Can't wait for the bottom one to get smaller and go away.

Life has to go on though, and I went out to the barn for horse therapy. Penn got an extra long grooming time and hugs and treats and thought all that was great. His clip needs to be refreshed though, he's starting to look a bit shaggy. Normally I wouldn't this late in the winter, however he has two more winter horse shows to go to. I'll probably do that next week one evening. I would do it this weekend, but there's usually a lot of activity at the barn on the weekend and I need him focused.

We had an OK ride- he's developed some issues with contact- he keeps jumping on and off it and nodding his head excessively in walk. I tried to remember some things like riding him forward into it and creating a steady place for him to be, and that worked until he got so wound up that he was curling and getting heavy. Surprisingly, canter has made a turn for the better. I guess I haven't screwed that up yet!

I started with shoulder in and haunches in at the walk, trying to remember to not put too much angle into it. Little horse and Mikey's angle is too much angle. Penn did very well at it both directions, and off to trot we went. The starting work was good and steady, and then he started bouncing off the contact. I think I messed him up last week when I was dealing with his random spookiness.

There were trot poles out down centerline at X, so I did some 20m circles with straight sections between the poles. I eventually made him halt in between poles because he has a habit of shifting into the halt and out of it (probably my habit). That worked well, especially in making him trot-halt-trot with no walk steps. So I decided to make a fun little pattern: trot a 20m circle, halt in between poles, trot 20m circle, instead of halting, pick up the canter and canter a 20m circle, go between the poles and trot after, go down centerline and actually trot through the trot poles, change direction at C, shoulder in down the long wall, repeat in the new direction.

I had partially fried him already before stringing it all together. He got nervous and tense and his happy place was curled and BTV and on the forehand. I was still pleased with his canters, but the trot work is leaving something to be desired. I think he might be protesting carrying himself and a higher balance (he likes long and low), but I'm sure I'm doing something to mess him up too.

I stopped after a particularly good canter and got off and messed with his passage thinking steps in walk. They're really coming along! He's starting to take bigger longer steps when I ask for it, instead of bigger "normal" steps. Either way, he's walking differently on cue. I'm sure it would be different if I was sitting on him to prevent the longer step and someone else was on the ground prompting the bigger step.

I'm looking forward to riding with the second instructor at winter barn- normally I'd hit my own Trainer up for an ad-hoc lesson since I'm not sure where to go with Penn, but she's south and not available. I'm sure a video would do though! Either way, I'll give second instructor a try. I haven't ridden with her in years, and she just didn't click for me all those years ago.

I've got my show wrap up coming, as well as a trailer update since I've got pictures now, but work has been super crazy (we're talking 5+ hours of overtime this week and Thursday isn't over yet) and with Nickels' death, I just haven't felt like writing about those things yet. Facebook also keeps showing me things from a year ago- which happened to be the week Mikey had surgery. Sigh. Too many animals have been lost lately.

Nickels in his XS dog blanket that I got for him when Mikey was out at OSU for surgery.

RIP Nickels

May 1, 2011 - February 2, 2016
Adopted July 30, 2011

Nickels was our sickly cat. He had a kennel cough when we adopted him that escalated into a full blown chronic rhino-virus type thing that he had for life. The vets diagnosed him with FIP (which we don't agree with as he only had two of the many different indicators) and asthma.

He never knew he was sick and supposed to be lethargic. He hunted laser dots, feet and ankles, and anything that moved.

He was always skinny, no matter how much we tried to stuff in him!

Last week, he started turning down chicken. Sunday night he started throwing up. By Monday it was projectile vomiting after drinking water until his belly swelled like crazy. Mind you, for the last 6 to 9 months, it has always been a little swollen.

He stopped eating and all he wanted to do was drink, which would make him throw up. I was able to get water to stay down by letting him have tiny sips every 15 to 20 min. He's tried but been unable to poop for a day. Made a vet appointment for 5pm.

The vet was very concerned about his belly and did an xray. We thought he had some kind of bowel blockage, turns out we were wrong. Instead, he had a liver tumor about the size of a baseball. What horrible pet parents we are. How do you miss that in a 5 lb cat? The tumor was squeezing his stomach and pushing his intestines ask the way back in his body cavity. They were both empty.

Please, if you see something different, don't share.

The vet didn't give him more than a day or two to live - his temperature had already dropped to around 98. Our options were to schedule an appointment for an ultrasound, where they could confirm, and we could decide if surgery was an option, or we could put him to sleep now.

We opted to put him to sleep tonight. If it was even possible to do surgery, his body condition wasn't the best to operate on, so Husband and I had decided beforehand that we were not going to put him through that.

Nickels had a wonderful last day - lots of sunbathing without his sisters bothering him, very little throwing up, and he found his purr motor (I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard this cat purr).

A last picture. Very comfortable and relaxed. 

Nickels outlived his life expectancy of about 2 years, so I don't see this as him dying young. He had a rough life health-wise, and we tried to make him as comfortable as possible. So long little buddy, I know you're finally comfortable and at peace. We love you.

Ride Log 1/29

Sorry to create another ride log for this week, but I had some realizations last night that I need to record so I remember them!

Things I learned while riding Friday night:

• Use my body for something besides half halting. What? Yes, don't forget to turn my shoulders and use that motion to help use my thighs and legs to help Penn turn and change bend. Especially in the shallow loop from T3.
• "Long" arms for a long neck.
• Following that point, careful with the inside hand- use and release. Almost think about letting it sit more forward than the outside hand. Doing that let's Penn immediately soften, look for the bit, and lengthen his neck.
• Do not forget how I rode the trot- ride the canter in a similar fashion but a different rhythm.

Items reinforced by our ride Friday night:

• Even though Penn is looking and wants to spook (or wants to lean at the canter), DO NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE NECK. Ever. Reinforce the bend with the leg and seat. Leg on to support him but not enough to squirt him forward.

Keeping those things in mind, we had an AWESOME ride Friday night. I wanted to work on the one loop from T3 since I can't seem to get that right at the shows. I started by getting deep into my corners, then trying to make the bend changes work... it didn't really click until I got to trot and remembered to turn my shoulders. Then he was like, "You'd like me to change my bend? Of course! Why didn't you say so?" Doh.

Anytime he would get heavy, some inside leg and give/release on the inside rein would remind him to hold himself up. He felt so sure of himself, I was very pleased!

I did some canter work next with the intention of working it more than the trot. I started from the shallow loop and followed the pattern from the left lead canter. All the good prep from the trot translated to the canter. Keeping all the same ideas from trot in mind... into the corners, keeping the inside leg at the girth (which is further up than I think), not dropping my inside hand, and not pulling back and holding with the inside hand. His canter started off a little runny, but as I worked it, it got better and better. The more he trusted me not to take away from the length of his neck and pull my inside rein, the lighter and quieter and easier he got in the more difficult part of that movement (for him it's continuing after the circle and across the next short side into the diagonal). The final one we did to the left was incredible. All of a sudden he found his big boy pants and became light and very flexible.

I love that when I get things right, he answers right away. But that's the kind of horse he is- he wants to please and do what you want.

We only worked for about a half hour, but I was so pleased with him. No reason to drill before the show! In plan on doing a similar ride today since that seemed to go well.

All smiles for a test well done!

Ride Log 1/25 & 1/27

I have no new media of Penn, so you're getting Mikey media.

Monday 1/25

Penn was super weird Monday night. I pulled him out of his stall and put him in cross ties then went back down the aisle to my trunk, pulled out my brush box, helmet, whip, and DSBs. They're the same things I always get out. I walked up to him and he started snorting and backing away from me. I set everything down and let him have a good sniff of everything I brought over, one item at a time. I think it was the boots that set him off? Weird.

Either way, he kept being spooky until I got his boots on his legs. Even after our ride, he was snorty and spooky. There's a little bit of construction going on because BO is moving lockers and building more lockers (a reason I keep my stuff in a trunk). I led him around the other barn aisle so he could have a good look at the stuff over there and that set him off pretty nicely. He did remember some of his training though- something would scare him and he'd go to back up and remember he's not allowed and then he'd take a couple steps forward (to the point I had to stop him from actively touching power tools). I let him say hi to Fiction so he knows that side of the barn isn't all bad, and then put a much more relaxed horse back in cross ties.

Our ride was good. I'd say it was great if his canter work wasn't so sketchy. His trot was INCREDIBLE. I actually got on and rode him, insisting on being uphill, no laying on my hands, and yes, you have to follow proper bend. Instead of really picking at him, I picked at me- make sure my seatbones are saying what I want them to say (he responds immediately to seatbone cues) and make sure my shoulders are up and back and part of the half halts instead of just being there. Really paying attention to what my body was doing instead of actively trying to fix him helped him the most- instead of worrying about trotting and trying to jump into canter as a possible answer to "trot better please", he was able to stay relaxed and so his trot became incredible. Up, through, and big. I don't know if slogging through the snow helped his trot and its steadiness, but there was a marked improvement from my trot work Friday night in the indoor to Monday night in the indoor. In the videos in the snow, he was much more deliberate about where he put his feet (aka no noodle legs). Hopefully what I felt was that carrying through to footing he's super comfortable on, and therefore he got big and bold!

I messed with my new clippers on Monday- which there seems to be a problem with because they were running super slow (and after I got them on him, depending on how I cut the hair they'd speed up and zoom for a while). New batteries didn't help, so I donno. Either way, Penn held his ground and let me trim his nose, goat hair, and bridle path! Every now and then when I'd move around his head, he'd get funny again and I had to remind him to stay put. Still, it was a success because he is trimmed and looking snazzy for this weekend.

Speaking of a snazzy horse, look at this guy!

Wednesday 1/27

Penn was still weird when I put him in cross ties, but less weird than he was Monday. Got him to the arena, hopped on, walked a lap around and he promptly spooked at a front corner and tried to run across the arena. I made him go into the corner and the issue seemed to disappear as long as I kept his mind working.

Which meant I developed a plan on the fly. I only wanted to revisit training level movements this week since we're showing Sunday, but that doesn't make him think. So I spent a while in walk making him round and through and trying to get him to stretch his neck.

Then I added in leg yield right from K to centerline (near X but no goal letter on CL), track left at C, shoulder in down the long wall (towards scary corner), into the corner, across the short wall, F to centerline leg yield left, at C track right, then shoulder in down the long wall, repeat. I haven't worked leg yield in a while, and I'm keeping a lot of that lateral stuff to walk right now so he gets comfortable with it and doesn't worry.

I worked that pattern twice each way, then changed the shoulder in to 10m walk circle, starting haunches in on the last quarter, and haunches in down the wall. Repeat many, many times. The lateral work bending right is a lot easier for him than the work that bends left. Which makes sense because right now he's protesting left leg to right rein when tracking left.

Towards the end, I changed my leg yield to baby half pass. I think of half pass as haunches in on the diagonal, but with some shoulder in positioning so the shoulder leads. Complicated, I know. But the thinking lets me get the idea of half pass across to him without blowing his mind- so he did his baby half passes and got lots of praise. Not to worry, after every movement he was getting lots of praise already.

Off to the trot! I did some circles both ways to get him moving, and then put him back on the previous pattern with leg yield but no lateral movements on the long walls for the first time through each way. He responded well, even if his hind end was lagging behind a little. Then I added in the shoulder in, then changed to haunches in like before. He wasn't as good in trot as he was in walk, but that's ok.

I spent a long time working that exercise. Penn's trot work became nice and strong and he was light in the bridle (yay!). I made sure to pay attention to me, and how I was asking for things, so he responded and was great.

I then did a small amount of canter on a large circle in the middle- enough to enforce I am in charge, Penn must be round, no laying on my hands, and no speeding off. I made sure to keep my seat in the saddle by "pulling" my elbows down and keeping my shoulders engaged in the half halts, and put Penn on a 15-18m circle. I had a couple good canters each way, so we came back to trot, did a stretchy circle, recollected, and walked. He worked very hard!

Oh right leg, You never did learn to stay at the girth.

I'm riding tonight, then tomorrow I'll buy shavings for the trailer, watch some lessons, ride lightly, braid Penn, pack the trailer, and get some sleep, cause Sunday is a horse show! FYI there are 17 riders in my Training 1 class. Seven-f'ing-teen.

Fun in the Snow

I have lots of new media!!!!

Husband and I took the trailer back to the barn on Sunday, so he was around while I rode, and he used his fancy schmancy new phone to take pictures and videos and even a few GIFs!

So I decided to get my "Micheal Jung/Ingrid Klimke" on, and work Penn in the snow two days in a row. (For those who don't know, Micheal Jung keeps his training methods quiet and notably doesn't teach, but recent leaks show he practices his dressage in water complexes, and more recently there's video of Ingrid practicing in her purposely flooded outdoor arena-links to Facebook).

Basically, the idea is to have some fun while the snow actively works Penn. I had a lot of on the forehand, connection and bend issues, but I also wasn't pushing him as hard as I could have because I was worried I would adversely effect his balance and we would both eat snow.

Ignore my horrid position. I'm going with I haven't really ridden in two weeks.

Husband also played with GIFs on his phone:

More still shot media:

This would be a great pic if he wasn't so on the forehand!

Then we have the videos!

Trotting left:

Trotting with a change of direction:

Trotting and some canter:

Same video as above, but Husband added some slow-mo frames:

A short ride -I like working in snow and water, but I'm not always sure how good working in snow is for the tendons- and not overly productive, but it was fun!

Snow Storm Activities

I'm just going to bombard everyone with pictures from the last couple days.

I worked from home Friday. Migraine + Snow Storm = Work At Home. My coworkers for the day were great.

Nickels was extra active and perky.

Penny slept in a fish.

Sophie slept next to me on the couch.
She sleeps extra soundly and that means I can mess with her, hehe.

Then I went to the barn at the start of snow storm Jonas. When I left, I debated if that was a smart idea. My Mom went with me. 28 years old, and I'm still dragging my mom to the barn like a little kid.

About an hour into the snow fall, on my way to pick up Mom.

I had a good ride! It's the first time I'd ridden Penn in about two weeks since I've been sick and then it was just too cold to ride. His trot work was excellent, there wasn't too much to nit pick. His canter needs work though- it was particularly bad- not through, tense, not going to the outside rein, rushy. I'm going to have to work it quite a bit before the show next weekend. Hopefully it was just bad since he'd been off for 5 days! I'm sure the below didn't help:

I have no idea how he did this. He's sound and not swollen. It is quite tender though- he didn't like me wiping/dabbing it and then spraying it with Aluspray.

The only thing I can think of is that his blanket hind leg surcingles got tugged on or pulled by another horse and the metal buckle that determines the length of the strap dug into him. The fields are very clean and tidy, I can only assume it was his poor social skills at work.

I'm glad I bought a blue version for horse shows.

Mom and I headed home. The roads weren't too bad, but they weren't great. I dropped Mom off and got back to my house in one piece! Or the same number of pieces we started with, haha.

Waiting at a traffic light.

In front of my house.

I woke up to this face Saturday morning:

Penny Snugglepus!

Husband and I cleared the driveway, but first we took Sophie outside for her first snow walk!

Not a fan.

I say Husband and I... meaning I cleared enough to get my car out and went to the barn while he finished up with the plow!

Fiction and Penn digging for grass. Well they were when I got my phone out. Fiction was like, "Human! Food for me?"

I opted to take Penn for his first snow ride instead of doing real work inside. We still did work, but we did it in the outdoor with the snow. I kept it short because I still insisted he work over his back and I know slogging through the snow is hard work... which was the point- he has to lift his feet and he has to lift his back too- so absolutely no sitting the trot. I let the snow slow his tempo and I focused on keeping our balance because I didn't want him to accidentally biff it and then both of us eat snow. Walk-trot-canter each way. He found an awesome trot to the right- I saw his knees lifting out in front of his shoulders and he had a great feel. He had a hard time supporting the left lead canter and his balance in the snow- however that could have been because it was the last thing I tackled.

A great view!

Walking around the track we wore in the outdoor.

Trying to make him round up so I can get a nice pic of him working.

I ventured out to the grocery store after the barn (I know, you're supposed to go BEFORE the storm. I do things backwards). I decided to get some chocolate chips (in addition to other staples) because Husband really likes chocolate chip cookies, and since he finished my trailer, I figured I'd bake him some cookies.

She begged the whole time. Like a dog.

Husband and I are taking the trailer back to the barn Sunday. I've got a bunch of pictures, but I'm missing some shots of it in the dark. I'll have to get pics of it lite up like a Christmas tree next weekend when we park it in the dark after the next horse show! :-)

18.5" MW Jaguar XKC Monoflap Dressage Saddle

Today's post is a for sale ad... I still have Mikey's dressage saddle and it really needs to go! Please share and pass it around!

2013 18.5" MW Jaguar XKC Monoflap Dressage Saddle - $2500

• Made in England
• About a year's worth of use - never used in the rain or taken on trail rides. I didn't use it over the winter when I didn't have an indoor, and Mikey was injured last winter, so summer use only. Never, ever left in the sun!
• Well taken care of and cleaned regularly.
• Fits OTTBs and other flat sided, high whithered horses well.
• Retailed for $4000- Jaguar is no longer making saddles anymore. Harry Daubbs is maintaining all existing Jaguar saddles. I have all the original tags.
• Very comfortable - I wish it fit Penn!
• Excellent condition
• Very soft leather - I made stirrup protectors so the irons wouldn't lay against the flap and create marks or dents. I'd be willing to sell those with it.

I can accept pay pal, buyer pays shipping, and I don't mind doing a trial with full payment. The saddle must be returned in the same condition! I'd be willing to meet if you're close enough to me.

Interested parties can email me at codexdressage at gmail dot com! 

And Mikey's back and shoulder build for your reference: