Monday's Vet Appointment

Monday morning the vet came out to adjust Penn... and we tacked on the lameness exam too.

She asked me about Penn's medical history, and that's when I realized I really don't know much about him medically. He had a good pre-purchase, has had a few bumps (aka his face) and that's about it. He's never been lame, just funny behind in the last few months. The same vet office did his teeth at the start of this year.

She decided to check out the hoof first, and so she had me lunge him... where he proceeded to be extremely lame on the soft indoor footing. Much, much worse than the day before.

She pulled out the hoof testers and checked him all over and said agreed it was an abscess, but thought it was under the shoe. She asked when the farrier would be back out to reset him, I said next Monday. She gave me two options- pull the shoe and try to find it, or leave the shoe and soak and poultice it for a few days, then pull the shoe if it doesn't pop out. I told her to do whichever she thought would clear it up fastest- he needs to be sound for us to go in a week and a half to a recognized show. We can keep him comfortable without a shoe for a week if we have to.

She opted to pull the shoe. She did a little more testing and a small amount of digging, but wasn't able to narrow it down to a specific spot to drain- she was afraid to dig into his white line to find it, which is totally fine by me! Hooves take a while to grow back and I feel like they're not something you want to go dig in unless you really have to.

It's somewhere near the red line.

A farrier might have a better shot at pinpointing it, and if it hasn't blown by Wednesday I might bribe one of the farriers at the barn to check. I don't think it will take until Wednesday, just because of how fast Penn is going lame. It seems to be the way these things pan out- the horse goes from sound to three legged crippled in a very short time, abscess blows, then they're healing and sound again.

The vet moved on to his chiropractic adjustment. She asked what made me think he needed it (sewing machine legs behind at the last show prompted the call, the massage therapist was concerned about the SI area, a general lack of swing in his back that he used to have). She tested him, and he reacted to her over his lower back, croup, neck, and tried to collapse his right hindquarter to get away from her testing pokey thing. She worked on him then gave me a review. I tried to remember properly- unless it's written down for me, I'm really just terrible at remembering the medical terminology:

• Crooked hips- the right is lower than the left.
• Lower lumbar was out.
• Neck C4/C5 was out.
• Whither area, poll, and legs were good.

She wants to see him again in 6 weeks, so we made the appointment today. I don't have any media from her adjusting him, it was just neat to watch her flex him and use his own responses to make the adjustments.

We had a dilemma about what to do with him after his treatments- he needs to stay in because he's missing a shoe and is lame, but he needs to move around to help with the adjustment. We came to the agreement that he'd go out after breakfast while stalls were cleaned, then he'd come in when the barn work was done.

I got one of these boots for him from Tractor Supply, only because he's terrified of vet wrap and I hate being mean to him to make him deal with it, and this is probably easier to put on over the diaper and poultice. I have serious doubts about its durability, but I just need the protection for a week until this abscess blows and he can have his shoe back on.

A dubious product.

Hopefully all this clears up in the next week! I'll be soaking his hoof and wrapping for the foreseeable future.

5/8 Schooling Show: The Awesome & The Bad

One day I will look as good as Penn.
And on that day, I will no longer have a rogue inside hand.

Sunday was horse show day!

Hanging out.

It was a longer day than it should have been- I went a two hours early so I could help a friend. She events and knew her event tests, but was riding a second horse and riding dressage tests with him... and she was having trouble keeping track of 4 tests in her head, so I came and read for her in exchange for the use of her show vest. I'm still trying to find my own!

Sleepy time on the leg wraps.
He did end up stealing a track wrap and flung it around.

There was a lot of time to hang out and chill.

Pretty braids!

Eventually I tacked up and got my butt to warm up... and had about 15 min. That's ok, Penn seems to be on the 15-20min warm up plan. When he's good, it's all he needs. When he's tense, it's all he needs or else you'll fry him.

I just like his neck in this one.

Warm up was a good one. He was taking some funny steps that I attributed to a small scratch he had on his front left coronet band. The steps got more solid as he warmed up on what turned out to be a really shitty surface. The whole ring could have used another drag. I'm not one to complain about surfaces, because our old outdoor was a clay/sand mixture that got very hard when it was dry and very slick when wet.

Need to lighten the front end.

This surface was just not good. It was deep and had a crust. I could feel Penn tripping and muddling through other horse's footprints. It really needed a drag. His steps eventually evened out, so I thought he was ok.

You'd think from pictures that canter is his best gait.

The sun was causing havoc with Husband's camera- the clouds kept rolling in and out and so his camera was constantly adjusting so the pictures were quite varied in exposure!

I need to learn to sit his canter, asap.

You'd think with all that gorgeous weather we'd be riding outside? Nope. Back to the spooky indoor!

On to 1-2!

link to video

Note the 8.0 that wasn't totaled all the way to the left above the collective marks. (Note my penciled in totals and percent)

I got the bright idea to have husband stand right at A! The standard arena takes up most of the space in the indoor, so I asked him to plant himself right on the wall looking straight down centerline, so I can see what the judge saw. Husband was too funny- when we were done, he was like, "Every time you turned down centerline you were slightly to the left." How right he was! His first well spotted error- now to make him attend all my lessons so he can learn so he'll see other errors and yell at me...

Anyway, I liked this test very much. I did the first leg yield and was like "BAM! That felt good." Then I came back up again and saw the hoofprints I left and was like, "Wow, that last one was very steady in steepness and forward. The line is basically straight to the letter."

My lengthenings were definitely conservative- I was afraid of mucking them up so I didn't ask for much. Penn was not interested in delivering his usual 7-7.5 free walk or stretchy trot.

We ended with what I thought was a 68.906%. I got the test back, was happy, and reviewed it in the truck on the way home and thought, "There's an awful lot of 7, 7.5, and 8's in here. How did that not balance out the one 6 and four 6.5's?" Well, the show manager who normally totals the score broke her right arm (she's right handed) and that made it impossible for her to tabulate scores. A different person did it, and didn't add the 8 for the final salute into the score... even though she wrote the test movement tally below it. She didn't even write in the 8 for the total column.

I added it all up myself, many many times, and we actually got a 71.406%!! That's my first time being in the 70s! I've been sub-30 at events (recognized and schooling), but that's not the dressage world. I was so excited! I don't know what place I got since they calculated wrong (and I found it on the way home)- they may have just missed it on mine, or missed it altogether on everyone's tests. I know first was a 72%, second was 70%, so who knows. Either way, it was a super competitive day and everyone brought their A-game. At least half of the riders were doing what I was doing- one last prep for the recognized show on May 21-22. I do think this judge was a bit generous.

We got a 3rd, and I'm inclined to believe that the scorer missed the last score on everyone's, so we're going to stick with that!

Well you all know I don't do just one test... and I'm sure you noticed the not good steps Penn took in the first test, mostly when he had to turn with his left front on the inside. He had a little rest between tests and I knew something wasn't right when I went down centerline for 1-3. I didn't warm him up again since he doesn't do well with a second warm up and this is a schooling show, so we did a trot around the outside of the ring and up centerline. We made it through a handful of movements before the couple of steps became consistent instead of going away and I pulled up and excused myself from the test. I went back through the video, and what was screaming to me, wasn't overly apparent, but it was enough. No one watching seemed to know why I pulled up. Whatever!

We think he's brewing an abscess. I couldn't get one of the barn farriers out Sunday night to hoof test him, but I talked to one on the phone and she said to poultice it and see what happens. There's zero heat in his legs.

I jogged him on the gravel driveway and he was ever so slightly off. Barely a head nod, mostly just extra wavy shoulders as he hit harder on the right front than the left.

All wrapped up.

Husband thought it was going to be a quick drop off... but I needed to unload the trailer and Penn needed to have his braids taken out, get his Adequan injection, and get his hoof wrapped (which also meant I had to root through the trailer looking for the abscess stuff).

Evidence of Husband's boredom.

I tried to involve him in the hoof wrapping. I asked him to hold the tape (among other items).

That's not what I meant.

BTW, Penn hates vet wrap. I don't think anyone has ever put it on him because he totally lost his shit when I started wrapping the foot after poultice and the diaper. The sound of it unwrapping freaks him out.

Next Post: The vet comes Monday morning to do chiro work on Penn and check his hoof.

Preview

I'm working on my horse show wrap up (and editing pictures), but I'm just going to leave this here.

Massage Night

Penn got his massage last night. We'll call the massage therapist K.

Penn loved it.

K got started on him before I got to the barn (boo work! Why couldn't I leave early to watch my horse get a massage?). When I walked in, Penn had this sleepy, droopy lip face on and was SO RELAXED. Kind of like a high AF kid that said, "Heeeeeey Mommm... I feel gooooooooooood." Lots of lick and chew.

I should have snapped a pic of his face, but I didn't want to be that crazy person taking pics of everything... but I should have because K loved Penn and took a bunch of pics of him, haha!

She found a ton of tension in the SI joint area. Enough that she asked if a chiro was going to see him soon because she was concerned about it (I assured her that he's on the schedule to get an adjustment on Monday). She found more tension in the right hind area and left neck (go figure, that dang diagonal pair thing again).

She'd find a tense spot (Penn disliked this search very much), but then she'd push into him and hold it on certain points and he'd be tense for a moment then all of a sudden get super droopy, ears cocked, eyes closed, hanging lower lip and he'd enter a trance for a while. I think my description of how she finds bad spots and works them was quite poor, so forgive me because I don't quite get how to find the spots... I look for knots in my own back and bear down on them, but that's not what she was doing.

She asked to see him walk and trot, so we lunged a little bit and agreed he wasn't quite comfortable behind yet.

She worked a couple more muscles, then put some patches over the SI area and underneath him.

So many dots.

Sorry, couldn't get a picture of these dots without taking a pic of his junk!

I took a ton of pics of where they went to I can reapply later. The center patch is a stronger Aeon patch even though it looks like the normal white patches. I bought a second Aeon patch and I'm holding on to it for the May 21/22 recognized show to put on him after Saturday's test. I wasn't thinking properly, I should have bought the three sets of regular patches too. I'm debating just ordering the patches myself, and sticking them on myself... I know Penn's problem spots and how both K and my usual patch lady determined where to apply them. For the cost of one visit of my patch lady, I can get two visits worth of patches from the manufacturer. I hate doing that to her, but Penn is starting to cost me a small fortune! This way Penn can get patches overnight at shows too for much cheaper than if I bought another set of patches to apply myself from my patch lady.

Anyway, that's not the point. K asked if I was going to ride him, and I said no, I was going to give him the night off. She asked if he was going to be outside tonight, and I said no, he'll be in... so she said, "RIDE HIM." I'm like, "Ok! As soon as the farrier fixes his shoe." Haha.

The farrier came shortly after K left and fixed his shoe. He was just as stumped as I was at how Penn sprung the shoe, but instead of one side coming off the hoof, it curved more so the heel of the shoe wasn't supporting his heel or the hoof wall anymore- it was creeping to the soft inside of the hoof. Either way, he came out asap and fixed it.

By this point, Penn was a totally obnoxious beast and was obviously feeling pretty darn good. He wanted to rub his nose all over the farrier and lip his hair and in general be super touchy feely with everyone in sight. He eventually got bopped for being an obnoxious prick, then he looked all sad for 3 seconds before going right back at it.

"I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings..."

I tacked him up and had a super ride on him- also very short because it was almost 8pm by the time I got on him and I did want to go home eventually that night.

I could tell an immediate difference in him when I walked off from the mounting block- he had a ton more swing in his back and went straight to the being on the bit as I shortened my reins. We repeated my ride from Wednesday in structure and movements. The trot 10m circles were MUCH better. There was no discussion about the starting bending, he just went with it. I may have peeked a bit over my shoulder and looked at the bend he had through his body. He's such a little guy, I can peek over a shoulder and see where his hind end is at! The school the previous day may have helped, but I didn't have to keep after his outside hind as much as I usually do. The leg yields were MUCH better. He tends to get slow and stale in them, but he was quite happy to keep the forward motion and cover just a hair more ground. He was a bit distracted for this ride- the horses came in a bit late for dinner because of the nice weather. He had quite a lot of motion in his back in the trot, more than I've felt in the recent past. The canter was forward and very comfortable.

This won't be Penn's last massage! K was wonderful and identified tense areas without me having to tell her where (I did ask her to spend extra time on the SI area). Penn definitely enjoyed it. K was very affordable too. The massage ended up costing a little less than I thought, but I ended up spending more than I expected because we did some patches too. I don't care. The horse feels good.

Let's just throw some more money at this.

I'm very interested to see how the show this weekend goes, and how Penn feels after a chiropractic adjustment Monday. I think we're on the right track!

Ho Hum Days & Other News

Don't neglect your quiet work.

Standing on a hill, just looking around? Yupp, that counts.

Penn has not been a "foam at the mouth" type. There have been days I can hear him sucking on the bit, and those are the days he's quiet and steady and relaxed, and generally has a small corner of foam when we're done. There are days where he's so hard in the head and neck and I know it because I can feel myself being overly handsy. These are zero foam days.

Now, I know foam isn't the end all- some horses don't foam and they're working well. Some horses foam like crazy as soon as you put a bit in their mouths, working well or not. Many, however, foam when working well.

Penn has been enjoying relaxed and quiet rides for the past week (even though rides are relaxed, when doing hill work he MUST be connected to the bridle and using himself to make sure the right muscles build!):

• 4/27 Wednesday & 4/28 Thursday: He did some hill walking with very light ring work (leg yields and basic W/T/C with 15-20m circles).
• 4/30 Saturday: We had a relaxed but effective lesson.
• 5/1 Sunday: He did a little hill work and a short trail ride. That turned out to be not so relaxing because the pigs were right at their fenceline that we have to walk past... and while he'll walk past when they're 15-20ft away, I didn't ride him properly (I wanted to look at the pigs because I haven't seen them up close), and so I let him sit and spin and run away... much further than I would ever let him because the footing was a bit slick due to rain... so I had to make a big fuss about getting forward again and he prompted bolted past the pigs... I had a bare amount of steering (I could pick the general direction, but couldn't avoid the low hanging branches). Penn learned about the pulley rein and stopped dead. His walk wasn't very relaxing after that, but he managed by himself and was on a longer rein by the end.
• 5/3 Tuesday: We did some very light ring work again, did one circuit of our hill work, then went for another short trail ride. Penn got his education about the pigs since the footing was better. He tried to stop early and turn away; I caught him and insisted; he threatened to rear; I cranked his head to one side as a rear stop and spun him in circles while whacking him with the whip on the hip. He had an epiphany and decided to walk somewhat calmly past the pigs. He got lots of pats and good boys, and did the rest of his trail ride on a long rein. Just a wonderful ride really (aside from the pig education part). Did a little extra road walking towards the end.

Happy pony.

• 5/4 Wednesday: Moderate ring work. Nothing crazy, but more than the basics... test 1-2's leg yields and lengthenings, 10m trot circles so I could practice posting them (I've only sat them because I find Penn leans in too much at posting trot), practiced our trotwork into the canter from lesson, and tried the thinking leg yield through the simple change (fun fact, I had fewer trot steps and zero uncertainty about what lead he was picking up, but he inverted a bit).

As the week progressed, he started foaming more and more each ride. 5/3's work and trail ride had him foaming nicely. Yesterday's ride had a lot of foam and even some audible bit sucking, much more than I've ever gotten from him from strictly ring work. He's been progressively more relaxed each ride as well (pig incidents aside).

Basically, don't neglect your quiet work- easy rides in the ring, walking up and down hills, walking trail rides. Even though Penn hasn't been quite comfortable in his ring work, he is getting better and has been quite relaxed when I've put him to work. Seeing something besides the ring is good for them!

I don't recommend lollygagging walk work in the ring- do it outside the ring. I tried that several weeks ago and Penn was a nightmare after ("what is work? what is round work? what is connection?"). Mikey did very well with the quiet work mixed in too, except I could probably lollygag with him in the ring and not have an issue later... he never relaxed as much as Penn is willing to though.

Penn's work is certainly lacking in some spots- posting the trot lets him go in a tempo that's a bit too quick, which then makes the lengthenings bad... and that's totally my fault because I'm trying to be extra nice to him. But I can feel that his gait quality is good and he's very relaxed, and I think that's a bit more important right now. He's not going to win any fitness medals at this rate, but he is building needed back and hindquarter muscle to really excel at first level. We can work on finessing the movements later when he has the strength to carry on for an hour.

A good zig zag, but it could be better, if only because we can't consistently produce it.

Other happenings:

1. I'm also attempting to fix my own fitness level- when I was dog sick a couple weeks ago, the only thing that I could eat that wouldn't make me sick or give me heartburn were clementines and other fruits. I went a week with only eating fruits, veggies, some meat and I felt fantastic. I added back the dairy and grains and wanted to die. Wheat based products especially triggered my asthma, among other unpleasant side effects. I'm not talking like cakes and cookies, I mean a simple sandwich on bread triggers it. Pizza is the devil's food since it causes full blown attacks where I spend days not breathing properly even with an inhaler. (Side note, almost every woman on my mom's side can't eat wheat or dairy, and there is a very high crohn's disease rate- a cousin's son was diagnosed with it at age 7 and almost died.) So after a couple attempts at eating grains, I'm on my way to cutting out all grains... Also all alcohol- it sometime causes the same reactions. I like cheese too much to go dairy free. I'm adding back select foods as a test to see if I react to them. For example: I really do enjoy a bowl of cereal (I have a favorite oat based one)... especially now that I found milk that doesn't make me sick- FairLife milk is lactose free, has more protein than regular milk, less sugar, and fewer calories. The best part of cutting out grains and most dairy? I dropped 10 lbs quickly and easily and don't feel constantly bloated.

2. I gave my first injection! Ahhhh! It wasn't as bad as I thought. Penn's Adequan came in yesterday and he needed his first dose, and no one was there to give it to him (BO can't because of her insurance). I've watched a lot live and got some tips a couple weeks ago when Penn got his first injection. I watched a video as nerve prep (it's the stabbing part that bothers me). In the last 20 years, it's just something I've never done. I've boarded with Trainer for a long time, and she was a vet tech for many years, so why let me risk botching it? Before I boarded with her, we'd always have the vet inject anything the horse needed.

3. Tonight Penn gets a massage and then the farrier will be there to fix one of his shoes. Just a minor shoe adjustment, but one that needs to be made ASAP so we don't have a bigger issue. I think Penn is going to have to move to a 5 week cycle because we're 4ish weeks in and his feet have grown so much this spring that the shoes are too small looking. We're barely halfway through the cycle and I already have a problem with a slightly turned shoe. I'll have to talk to the farrier about a couple things- shorter cycle, maybe a slightly bigger shoe, hind toe dragging (he said to keep him posted about that).

4. Penn will have a light work (probably paying a bit more attention to the trot into canter and the simple change) and short walk (hopefully- the weather may not cooperate) Saturday, and then we're off to our last prep schooling show Sunday!

5. Oh, the vet had a cancellation and Penn's chiropractor appointment was moved from May 17th to May 9th! Yay!

Mad Dash

OMG! All the entry forms!

I sent in Penn's first recognized show entry form yesterday! Yay! So exciting. USEF also came through on Penn's lifetime membership and got that through without me having to rush it. Also yay!

I was paroozing the websites of the other shows that I wanted to go to this summer on a whim at lunch today. I realized that not only does the May 21/22 show close on 5/9, but the June 5 show closes on 5/15, and the June 11 & June 12 shows close on 5/11.

I put too much effort into acquiring this gif. 

**cue mad paper dash so entries can go out with the 3pm mail- coggins, vaccine record, verification cards, entry forms, checks, envelopes, etc**

The June 5 show had to be hand written and mailed. Easy peasy!

The June 11/12 show does online entries with an echeck for no additional fee (Yay! The May 20/21 show was going to charge me 5% of an over $300 entry to pay online. Umm, no. I'll use a 40 some odd cent stamp). But I couldn't work out how to send Penn's coggins with the entry, or associate his USEF number with his USDF number so that he'd be all Qualifying legal. If I had to mail the coggins after the fact, well then, why the hell am I doing it online? I didn't have time to work it out, so the entry information got typed into the form on the computer and printed. Of course since that weekend is actually two different shows, I needed to print two different entries (aka fill in all the same info twice because each day had a different form), two card verifications, two coggins, etc. Basically, it's a lot of paper to stuff in a single envelope when I don't have access to a scale to check the weight against the 1oz mail rule. So I sent each show day in its own envelope because there isn't enough time to risk a return to sender.

Just lose the boots and he'd be ready to play in the recognized ring.

So moral of the story, everyone be aware of your close dates!

4/30 Lesson + The Plan

Sorry for the sappy post guys. The hugs mean a lot. I still miss my red head quite a bit, and I still get a bad case of the sniffles when I reminisce about him... or when Facebook memories show me the happy birthday picture I took of him last year captioned, "Happy sweet 16 Mikey! So glad to have you happy and healthy!" I want to go visit his grave, but I don't think I can do it without being an emotional wreck.

Taking a rest on top of our hill walking hill on Sunday.

I had a lesson on Saturday with Trainer... I had previously whined/cried about how Penn's hind end doesn't feel right etc. Penn looked fine on Saturday- of course. We messed around with leg yields, and then varying between sitting and posting trot within them. She thinks it's a back strength issue and we developed a plan to handle him for the next month or so (treating him extra well since I just sent in his first recognized show entry for 5/21-22!).

Farm panorama from on top of said hill.

Health-wise:

• Keep all his joints feeling good with multi-doses of Adequan. I'm currently trying to get the 10 dose vial, so counting backwards from the show (with the last dose being Friday morning), he'll get 5 doses of adequan (4 day intervals). Assuming I can get it before Wednesday this week, he'll get injections on 5/4, 5/8, 5/12, 5/16, 5/20.
• I doubled his OCD supplement for bone health. Several people have commented now that he's looking both broader (ribs more sprung, not just muscle) and taller. Doc's OCD will support his body's growth, so I'm giving him the problem dose.
• Megan suggested having his SI joint looked at, which I am trying to do. Right now, the vet who does most of the chiropractic work at the barn can't come out until 5/17. She's very popular and booked solid, and is going to be away at a conference. I've heard good to great things about her, and she's coming during the day when I can't be there, so it's good that my BO loves her... and will have one of her horses done too, so I can split the farm call.
• In the meantime, I'm trying to set up a time for a massage person to come out and work on Penn's muscles. She should be able to come this week. Hopefully that will keep him happy until the chiropractor can come out.
• I started doing the "carrot stretches" that I got from the chiropractor I used 10+ years ago. Keeping the horse's feet planted, have them stretch their nose back to their hip on each side and then down between their legs. I do 3 reps of them before riding, and have already noticed a difference. Penn usually pins his ears and gets nippy when I start to saddle him (I never ever toss things up there, I always gently set them), but the last time I tacked him up, he was noticeably less angry. Hopefully that's helping.
• Things I'm on the fence about: acupuncture (I've never had the effects last very long) and shockwave therapy (never used it). Trainer also suggested trying the new versions of gel pads if I really wanted to- the ones the look like swiss cheese. I priced them, and it's just out of reach right now.

Riding-wise:

• Posting trot for 90% of the work. No problem, I'm on board. If I do sit the trot, don't fully sit on him... don't perch either, but do more supporting of myself.
• Work him in the ring 1-2x per week. Make the other 3-4 rides in the week very light work or hill walking or trail rides. He knows all the first level work very well. He retains information and doesn't need to drill it. Do the other stuff to keep from abusing his body and to build strength. My goal is to hill walk 3x per week, ride seriously once or twice, and put a trail ride into the mix too.

The hill we're using for walking. Long and with a gentle, consistent slope.
We've been doing 2-3 uphill/downhill circuits. 2 if we worked in the ring or are trail riding after, 3 if that's all we're doing.

So anyway, we had a 1/2 hour lesson, so I'll hit the main points of it:

• Keep the head and neck straighter in the leg yield.
• Into the canter: sit the trot, push for more trot, then a very lifting half halt to get a very uphill balance and bring it back, immediately into canter. Practice getting it done so it's not hurried in 1-2 and 1-3 (where you have single letter distances to get walk to trot the trot to canter done).
• Practice moving the haunches back and forth in the canter on straight lines. If I find he's getting rushy or heavy, bring his haunches in a little.
• His canter lengthenings were quite good- very forward and bold. Keeping to the same lighter seat all the time, when I applied the lifting half halt idea, he was very prompt in coming back.
• In the 1-3 simple change: He never really gets straight across the diagonal. Trainer said to think about leg yielding him into the new outside rein (right rein) in the last steps of canter and in the trot so he's better balanced to pick up the new lead. Absolutely DO NOT let him move sideways. It's the same leg yield to the outside rein that Stephen had us do- the point is to move to the outside rein, not the leg yield. He does those just fine. The point is also to straighten him.
• LEARN MY DAMN TESTS FORWARDS AND BACKWARDS!

Basically, in my 1-2x per week ring work, practice these points. Do not drill! It's all about keeping him happy before the recognized show while he builds more strength.

Penn and friends turned out Saturday.

Now, how am I supposed to practice my tests without riding the horse in the ring? Eek! Perhaps we can have "working walk" days where I run through the whole thing in walk. It can be warm up for hill walking or a short trail ride. I'll use the test patterns in my working days to go through the trot and canterwork... But still! Eek. We have one more schooling show on 5/8 that I'll use as practice too.

But seriously, check out his quarterhorse-looking ass!