progress, the wonder shoer, and more

Y'know, I really hate abandoning my blog like this so often. I want to update more often, but geez, I forget until it's way too late.

Anyway, I absolutely love the new place. I seriously have no qualms about it; although we don't have an arena and it's expensive to ride next door, I've discovered the vacant front pasture. It's fairly level, with just a little dip in the center, but it doesn't have any potholes and it's on soft grass. It's also about an acre, so it's definitely big enough. One of the new boarders was gracious enough to bring their standards and cavaletti out, so that's set up in the front pasture, and it's held up surprisingly well, especially considering that E lets Ali the ex-eventer rip around a few courses every once in a while.

I also have found the wonder shoer! He was my mom and dad's farrier back before "they" were pregnant with me, and as my dad says, "everyone thinks they have the best shoer in the world, but he actually is!" He has turned me on to some amazing trainers and views on horse-training, and also shared some secrets he's gotten just from talking to the "gurus" as he calls them at various places and events. He has a book FULL of these secrets that he's gathered in the space of three decades and shares some tidbits with me every time he comes out.

My horses' feet are also looking incredible. I got before pictures, and I'll take some after pictures when I get around to it. Wonder Shoer even wants Ace to go barefoot next time he comes out. ACE, y'all, the accident-prone one who is (almost done) recovering from a soft tissue injury and has a broken sesamoid. Who would've thunk THAT??? Captain is also barefoot, just as I like him, and his feet are hard and chip-free. This is quite a feat (pardon pun), as we ride the streets A LOT and the driveway connecting the turnouts and front pasture-slash-arena to their paddock is gravel. Wonder Shoer quickly solidified my belief that the shoers at the ranch were basically shit, but not to worry, because they didn't do any permanent damage. I hate bagging on someone that I had the active choice to discontinue my dealings with, but the farriers up there were the only ones who would make the commute, and it bothered me every time they did my horses. Basically, I'm fully aware it was my decision to continue using them, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.

Ace is doing wonderfully, progressing really well with his foot. He's SO close that I think he's asking for just another month or two to really make sure he's all better, because the only time he bobs now is trotting counter-clockwise (and his injury is on the LF). I'm doing lots of bending at the walk and bringing his nose in to the left just slightly while trotting in a straight direction. Some very elementary half-passes to both directions have also created a noticeable improvement, as well. When I feel his trotting it seems as if he's not lame, but just taking a shorter stride with that foot so that's the imbalance I feel. He's sound as a tack in a straight line and circling to the right, and I think that supports my thoughts.

My issues right now are with Captain. My sister isn't riding as much as I'd like her to, and I think the lack of exercise and the boredom have stemmed a whole lot of aggression in Captain. It's like when we boarded at the QH barn and he was stuck in a box stall all day all over again. He's charging the gate when I bring the food in, rearing and baring his teeth when I stomp and step forward to shoo him away, and generally being a royal pain in the ass. Ace chases him away for me usually, so I was ignoring the aggression a little (really chalking it up to the fact that he was a stud until age six), until he started running away with my sister. Not any kind of crazy bucking or an intense gallop, but moving up into a strong canter and just not stopping. I got on him and fixed the problem a little, but even with me he was just too strong. I've put the standing martingale back on his tack, which has made a minor improvement, and I'm lunging him every day and working on getting him respectful again.

Last night though, he rushed to the gate as usual although I was inside the pen trying to catch Ace. Captain pushed the gate open and I ran over to catch it and chain it back up, and he pinned his ears a little menacingly, so I stepped in between him and the gate and pushed him on the shoulder in a firm reminder to BACK OFF. Instead of respecting my "bubble" and backing off, however, the son of a gun proceeded to bare his teeth, swing his head around, and smack me in the head full force, WITH his teeth. After everything stopped spinning I fetched my lunge whip and worked him around the paddock, keeping him trotting to one fence and turning him by stepping toward his shoulder at regular intervals. As soon as his head dropped and he was licking and chewing I backed off, and he approached very tentatively and began to listen to my body language again. He was walking beside me, turning, and backing to my cues (without halter or anything of the sort). I feel bad about chasing him around his paddock, but honestly I'm sick of the aggression and it worked. He was an angel on the lunge line and was even really patient with my sister when she stepped forward to try.

Speaking of lunging, it's time to go do so and then feed. I'll update more SOON, hopefully, or at least as soon as I have the time and inclination to do so!