I’m in the no riding boat too, and as I am in Oklahoma the English community is also very limited and my eventer is getting more than a bit round. I hope you heal well and quickly!
Welcome EventIz. Hope you can get some ride time.
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Endless- Pony is great on the lunge. I haven’t thought about riding one-handed. It’s doable.
Just checking in. I read back over a couple of pages. Hope everyone is doing well with critters and the rest of life.
I can’t remember if or when I last updated on Milton. He is doing really well. He had his second chiro adjustment and acupuncture two weeks ago and the vet noticed definite improvements in his back. So that’s good. His feet continue to improve with each trim, and I think that’s really helping his back. He’s got some white line in the front feet that I’ve been treating, but it’s minor so far and hasn’t caused any soundness issues. I also reintroduced a Cashel riser back pad, remembering that I’d always used one back in the day on him. I recalled that the saddle fitter mentioned that the cantle of my saddle could be a tad higher for optimal fit, but he wasn’t too concerned. It finally clicked one night as I was thinking about it, and I tried the Cashel pad. Perfect! Milton seems comfy, I’m comfy, all good.
Yesterday I rode him a lot more than I had planned. His winter coat is coming in (he’s actually gorgeous right now, so dark and rich red…I think his shelf full of supplements is starting to show, LOL), and it was 80 degrees, so I didn’t want to work him too hard. Well, he was such a good boy and so willing that I wound up doing a lot more. We started in the ring down by the barn, and someone had put a ground pole out there. He actually perked up and carried me to it at canter like he thought that was kind of fun! So, I’m going to incorporate some more poles and pole work (vet said this is good for his back too), and I’m having daydreams of starting him over fences. I used to event, and I miss jumping. He never showed any aptitude for it as a younger horse, but the way he bounded over that ground rail yesterday gave me a glimmer of hope that his new feet and groovy feeling back might mean he has more interest in it now. He LOOKS like a horse that could jump and FEELS (now anyway) like a horse that could jump. We’ll see.
Went up to the covered ring for the second part of our ride, and I worked him in there just a little bit. I can definitely tell he’s handling that footing better now with his new trim job on his feet. I didn’t ride him long in there, but he didn’t feel like he was struggling so much.
He’s forward at trot and canter (still kind of pokey at the walk), which is nice. We need to work on getting a better connections back to front now, but that’s hard to do with only riding once a week. For the most part, I just want him to stay sound and happy. He’s both of those at the moment.
I think our only real goal will be to do a test or two whenever the schooling shows start up again at the farm, which will probably be in the spring.
A great up date @RhythmNCruise.
My update is that I followed my homework mostly but I did not use the whip in canter. My self preservation kicked in. I also rode him with contact which I knew all the last year I had to do but didn’t do until my instructor said. Why I cannot tell you!!!
He is a completely different horse now. No jog. He goes along in trot and with contact. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! In the lesson and the ride after the lesson there was no difference in his canters. Hubby said he couldn’t see a difference. I said I could feel a minute difference and I praised. The next ride I asked again and again. He gave a pigroot which seems to free up his back and then there was a difference and a difference on both reins.
Then it rained woot woot YAY. 44 mm so we can’t use the arena. My instructors arena also flooded so my lesson was cancelled yesterday. The new ute also had a flat tyre. It has been fixed.
The place is starting to green up already. That means we will be able to make hay in a month or so.
More rain is predicted for today and tomorrow.
Hubby kept coming in and saying we were out of water. We stole from the horses and then he started on the tank for the laundry.
Last time I said not possible, we both had not a shower the day before with the problem. We also did not have tea so there was no washing up. No.laundry done. There is something wrong and I hope it is not the tank that is leaking. It is underground and under our carport so that will be expensive.
Hubby came back and said it was the pump. So the problem was fixed for $240.
Also the other tanks have been freed up to collect water with the oncoming rain.
I have planted the seed of the indoor arena. Hubby is thinking of quitting his job to get the long service leave. The business is being sold to an individual and if that individual goes bust so does hubby’s long service leave.
His coworker has quit for the same reason but just said he was going to help his dad who needs it. In hubby’s mind he us going to quit and then reapply for his job. He said they will be stuffed with losing both of them.
I suggested indoor arena. He said he was thinking of putting it in his superannuation for 10 years. I said we should find out how much it will cost and with the house I have sold we might be able to do both, but at this stage of life we may as well spend it, we could be dead in 10 years
I will not be able to go to the PRARG carboot sale. Sob sob sob waaah. I have been twice a year I would say fir the best part of a decade. I didn’t participate last time because it was online with Covid19.
Now I work Saturday mornings putting the bread up and Saturday morning I get paid double.
My friend is going and hubby is going. Sulk. Sulk. Sulk.
I am just so happy having a job in the local town, so I am happy.
Hope everyone is doing well. Nothing huge here to report. My work has kept me very busy end of last week/beginning of this week. It’s good though, the weather is rainy today and tomorrow. Good time to get some work done!
Now that my dressage shows are done for the season, I did something odd…I signed up for a virtual trail challenge with Jazz! I have to film myself on the trail doing 6 different obstacles/tasks. I just thought it sounded fun. I don’t know how Jazz will do, but I wanted something to do with him that we could both hopefully have fun with. We are definitely not trail riders, so we’re just in it for the fun of it! :winkgrin:
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Hello everyone & Happy (almost) Halloween! It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been checking in periodically to see how everyone else is doing. I’m involved in some political orgs, so the past few months have been a little crazy. I’m looking forward to some down time after 11/3!
My horse has had a summer sore on his mouth since late spring which totally killed our show season (what was left of it after COVID & the fires anyway). We’ve been in a hackamore since then, and it’ll probably still be a few weeks until he can have a bit in his mouth again. We still need our first level scores for the bronze medal, but there’s a show series nearby in January so we’ll hope to hit that. Luckily he still feels pretty good and seems happy to be in work. He’s been feeling pretty fresh now that the weather is cooling down. Lots of little spooks and spins, esp. on windy days, and he almost bucked me off after we popped over a crossrail last week. :lol: He’ll be 27 soon but doesn’t seem to know it. I was thinking of retiring him this fall, but he’s looking so good I decided to wait until spring to re-evaluate. And luckily my friend and former barn-mate bought horse property nearby so he has a nice spot to go once it’s time.
We did have a pretty bad colic scare over Labor Day Weekend, but luckily no surgery was necessary. It was my first real brush with colic - knock on wood - and it was terrifying. The vet on duty when he was brought in is actually someone I knew from Pony Club as a kid, so she texted me all throughout the night and the next day about how he was doing. This made me feel a lot better, because of course I was out of town when this happened. They ran a bunch of tests but couldn’t find a definitive cause (though it was really hot and smoky that weekend, so that could’ve contributed). So I’m thrilled he came out of it alright, but I’m also worried because I’m not sure what I can do to prevent another incident in the future. He’s seemed fine since, thank goodness.
PF - Have been loving your dressage pics. What sorts of obstacles or tasks will they give you for the trial challenge? Is it opening gates and walking through water and those types of things? Sounds interesting!
R&C - Glad Milton is doing well. My guy is really fuzzy as well, I just have to wait it out as long as I can to clip so I don’t have to do it twice!
Suzie - That’s awesome you had such a breakthrough, and yay for rain!
PF- how fun. Can’t wait to hear all about it- Pony and I would have done in hand trail at the big fun show pre COVID.
Trying to stay positive but I’m rather bummed. I have to get 4 COVID tests this week and have no room for Pony time. I will definitely live vicariously this week. Happy and safe riding to all who are able.
Mustang, glad all is going well, albeit not exactly as you would have liked lately! I hope your January series goes well! I’ll be cheering for ya.
The trail obstacle event runs like this. There is a list of I think 16 different “obstacles/tasks” you can do, and you pick six of them and video record each of the six (six short videos) and that is what you are judged on. Everything has to be natural, no man-made trail obstacles – so not like a trail class in an arena. For example, walk in and out of a ditch, up or down a hill, back up a hill, walk up a set of natural steps (rocks), duck under something, go through a narrow pass. So there are easier ones and more difficult ones. You can even choose to mount or dismount on the trail. This past weekend I went through my trails and did some clean-up, cutting branches, etc. I will do my videos this week! Hopefully my pony will be calm and quiet. New for him. But it’s something fun and it’s judged, so I figured it was something I can do with Jazz to get me riding him more. And starting in December, I will have to get Surge going again, too. Maybe he’ll like trails, who knows.
lucky, sorry for your tests and lack of pony time. That stinks. 
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PF- so is the class mounted? Yes, and to top it off, finally got to the dermatologist for what I figured was crazy flared eczema and had a biopsy to test for fungus. That’s all I need, as Mom says, “a fungus among us” 😛
lucky, yep, it’s mounted. Just like going on a regular trail ride. So it should be fun. Hope your test goes well!
Nothing new to report here. Still waiting on results for my last two dressage shows. I plan to ride after lunch today. Dang, but it gets dark early now! I’ll probably do some dressage work with Jazz, then hit the trail just so he sees everything, then record on Wednesday. Hopefully he’ll be a good boy. 
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PF- jingles for pretty weather and positive riding. You and DH have laid such good foundations for Jazzy, I think it will go very well 😀
and please give some cuddles to The Best Boy from me.
Well, as it turns out, Jazz was not quite ready for his trail debut! He wasn’t bad, but he was a bit excited and not relaxed. More like Jazz the Spaz, so I decided to tack Dante up and see how he did. He’s never been on the trails, so I was uncertain. Jazz HAS been on the trails, but not this year. Dante took to the trails quite easily. I needlessly worried. He is such a willing boy. I don’t know how we’ll score compared to everyone else, but it’s okay, because it was fun and he was very good for me. I’ll attach a few little tiny links here. We had to choose six “obstacles”. Oh, and we got our results from our last show (not the TB show, the other one). I got one first and two seconds. I’m happy with it. And the best part, for the whole show series, we got Champion in our Training Level division! Woohoo!!
“Stairs Down” https://youtu.be/7E4nsYfPrIQ
“Narrow Pass” https://youtu.be/d3M-POz2Lao
Funny that Dante is my jumper, yet we’ve competed only in dressage and competitive trail. Love this boy.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!
And lucky, cuddles going his way! Chico loves the attention. 
LOL PF. Dressage means training and you can do anything with a dressage horse. As a trail ride guide I used my own trained horse and rode in a dressage saddle. I HATE stock saddles, which were used on the trail ride horses.
Rain last week and finally at the right time of year, so we have really greener up. The horses are able to graze again, so when you look out the window they are out in their paddocks with their heads down.
Flies are coming again. I bought fly masks yesterday. Full for Dodge and Sim and a bigger one for Stars who has a big jowl. The 2 full were way too big for Dodge and Sim and even a bit big for Stars. So hubby will have to go back and swap them.
We raked the arena by hand to bring the sand off the sides and hubby then raked with the tractor, the arena was as hard as concrete after the rain.
All 3 have been lunged. After hubby lunged on his half of the arena their were hoof steps on az lmost every part of the arena. I went up and lunged Stars and we had a lot more raked arexa showing.
I will get on him this morning without lunging. I have a busy work day today.
Ah, but technically he is a jumper! :winkgrin:. He dabbles in dressage. Haha.
Just in case you didn’t notice, from COTH:
FORUMS UPDATE IS COMING ON MONDAY!
At long last, the Forums update we’ve been talking about for months is going LIVE! This Sunday 11/8, the site will be taken offline, and if all goes well, the new version of the site will be rolled out on Monday morning.
Please remember a few things:
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This update to a new platform was necessary for the stability and security of the site. vBulletin, which we’ve been using forever, was no longer serving our needs and we’d been limping along and patching it up for years.
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Your current log-ins should transfer right over to the new site, and the universal log-in system, which accepts either your email or your username along with your password, should be functional again.
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We will still be making changes after we go live. There are still a few customizations that the developers are going to be working on implementing, like getting the “original poster” designation on subsequent posts in a thread. We haven’t had Forums advertising running since the summer, and we have to get things back up and running to pay the bills!
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We will be able to change things in response to feedback, so please be patient with us as we triage our needs and wants after it goes live.
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Please try not to panic, give up or get hostile if things are initially unfamiliar or confusing. The site will look and work a little differently than we’re used to. It’s OK if you don’t know where to find things or how to do things right off the bat. We’ve been pretty much clicking the same buttons for around 20 years, so it will take a little time for all of us to familiarize ourselves.
It’s OK to make “mistakes” and ask for help! Play around with the new toys, experiment with how things work, tweak your personal user settings to make the new site work for you. There are some cool options to customize what you see on the site, so don’t be afraid to experiment and see what you like.
The developers and volunteer beta testers, who we owe an ENORMOUS thank you to, have put a ton of work into getting the new site to where it is now, and we’ll continue to listen to feedback to help make the site work for your needs as best as we can.
Thank you for making this community what it is, and we hope this update will provide a platform for it to continue to thrive in the years to come.
Sue- what a nice transition. Trot-halt is a favorite of mine.
PF- thanks for sharing the videos. You really do have a good egg with Tay-Tay. I think you both won the lottery 😀😀
Thank you! I do love that boy. He is so willing to try whatever I decide to ask him to do. Can’t ask for more than that.
Test. I couldn’t post yesterday.
And this is not my normal sign in. Hmm. That’s chico in my avatar picture. Awww. Wonder why I’m ParadoxFarm1 now. I will have to try to fix that.
