July 26, 2009

Nic saw fancy-pants chiro/masseuse guy yesterday, so we will see over the next 2 weeks if she is better. 2 days off, lunge on Tues, and lunge only for 2 weeks. The problem is "her rib cage is tilted to the left", causing all kinds of mayhem blocking her shoulders from moving. To some extent I buy this theory based on the number of vets/chiro/masseuse people who have seen Nic over the past few years (and who've all uttered something similar), but in my experience these kind of fumblings in the dark are useless. In other words, she may have a tilted rib cage, but I don't think knowing this peculiar fact about my mare really will make or break anything. My left side is bigger than my right side, and my right foot will always be at a 45* angle thanks to 15 years of figure skating, but it's not exactly like those issues limit me or can be fixed - they just are. But she's been adjusted, and now has to rebuild her muscles in her shoulders, so in a couple weeks the verdict will be in. And considering what he was doing to her, and that she clearly found parts of it uncomfortable, she was surprisingly willing to just stand there. I'd probably have bitten the guy.

Got 4 1-tempis on Nikita yesterday. I can do more, but just did the 4. Wheeee.

Trying to fix that whole leaning back too far in the trot thing, but now I'm having to reshape my own muscles. Not leaning back means using my abs and back more. Major ow.

July 23, 2009

Video of the trot and tempis with Nikita. I wish the tempis were more collected. Something to work on.

July 21, 2009

Let me explain better, although I doubt I really have to. I want to incorporate more video into Of Horses and Humans, and video is far more entertaining than my writing, I'm certain. But unfortunately, I don't really have anyone to video my rides, and sticking the video camera up doesn't do it for me any more.

Riding Nikita's trot is now much easier, and I can ride it without feeling out of breath or any such issue that was happening before. The difference is just that I took my knees off and used a super deep seat. It feels sometimes super bouncy, and like my legs are banging, although they're not. It's just how the loft in her gaits feel.

We got 4 tempis very good yesterday. For about 2 minutes I had a blonde moment and struggled with the counting - what can I say, sometimes my hair color just takes over and I had a "whoops" moment.

Note: to do an expressive single flying change, push the canter out the last 3 strides before the change.

Nic is doing much better. Only 1 out of every 10 strides is funny, instead of the opposite. She sees Steffan the masseuse guy on Saturday, and I hear he will set that rogue muscle right, and maybe I can get back to riding my mare. She's mentally ready to work, that's for sure. The look on her face when I lunge her says it all.

July 20, 2009

I need a video bitch. And possibly a better video camera.

July 15, 2009

I finally got the vet in since Nicole has been lame for about 3 weeks with no improvement. Apparently she has some opaque injury to the deep tissue muscles that connect her neck to her shoulders that appears to amount to a muscle strain. Those muscles in her neck/shoulder were stretched somehow, most likely resulting from the marriage between a pre-existing condition and an incline in her turnout paddock.

It's nice to know this since we spent, oh, I don't know, 3 weeks guessing whether it was the right front or the left hind, only to find out it's basically both legs. No problem with the actual legs, but the "off-ness" of the limbs is symptomatic of this neck/shoulder issue. I had a feeling it the issue was in that area. She's on banamine and injectable steriods, and hopefully we won't be dealing with any mare roid-rage. She probably hasn't been in any pain, as indicated by her willingness to work, but she's off because the strain makes everything a little more clunky.

On another note, after a near nervous breakdown, I've finally figured out how to ride Nikita's enormous trot. This just re-affirms my belief that dressage shouldn't be this hard, and when it becomes this hard, it's time to reevaluate what I'm doing. If it's hard, I'm probably doing it wrong. Which I was. Now I can ride the mare's powerful trot all day long with no problem, whereas before I was huffing and puffing and wanting to put the Colt 45 to my head to end my misery.

What's interesting is that the riding ideology I've been using espouses that the knees should remain closed in order to produce a powerful show trot. I've found the opposite is true - closing the knees interferes with producing a deep seat - which is why I couldn't ride Nikita without wanting to blow my head off. Take off the knees (or reduce the pressure) and maintaining a deep seat is easy. And the mare doesn't want to kill me. And now riding is fun again. And there you have it.

July 5, 2009

Nicole's been lame for about a week. I refuse to call the vet, because I'm certain it's not something the vet can readily fix, in other words, something along the lines of a muscle strain. As first I thought it was this stone bruise, because the farrier saw one on her hoof, and the horse likes to jump in and out of trailers, but that went away after 2 days, and there was no heat, so the stone bruise was ruled out. So I had the farrier come out again, in case we could put a pad on the foot, but he deduced the issue is not in the hoof, and likely further up.

So, Papa Smurf suggested flexing all the joints to see what happened, and BOOM. HUGE reaction about the shoulder, which, after the foot, would have been my next guess. After stretching her shoulder the first time, she became a little less lame on the lunge line, so I'm doing some stretches an equine masseuse showed me.

What's interesting is about 18 months ago, I had a masseuse and a chiro out for Nicole, which I hate admitting because I see that stuff as superfluous. The only thing, in my opinion, that really helps a horse is correct training. However, both those people pointed out an issue with Nicole's shoulder (which is how I know the stretches to do for her shoulder). But, again, I blew them off because she improved to rapidly and dramatically through training, and after 15 months of correct training. no shoulder issue manifested.

So, the mare is doing a form of horsey yoga, and hopefully this will improve the issue. She is probably sound to ride, but not sound on the lunge.

On the other hand, I need new boots, and I'm REALLY not happy about it, but the Ariat's have completely decomposed. I'm getting custom boots, which will be nice for my feet given my special-needs feet.