The Owls Approve: Whiskey

The Blogger Who Didn't

8:55 PM
By Beka Burke
3 Comments

My normal writing and reading style has been to do it in my down time at work (sorry, work), but then something struck the system and it wasn't safe to use personal credentials on a company device. As a result of the shit hitting the fan, I went from working my normal 40 hours to trucking through 50-60 hours. It wasn't a pleasant four weeks.

Now that things are winding down from we're-all-desperately-fucked to oh-shit-St.-Patty's-day, I'm getting off work at a reasonable time and I'm not fucking exhausted, so I aim on trying to catch up on the month's work of blog posts. Maybe.

So, life now, as a pregnant equestrian?

When I was lucky and not exhausted, the boys got ridden both Saturday and Sunday. I'm still taking lessons with Katy every week. I'm probably jinxing the fuck out of myself, but she said that when Whiskey and I make our rated debut post-baby, we're skipping straight to First Level. I wish I had more documentation, but she said that my smart pasture pony has the movement of a First or Second Level horse, now that he can actually pick up the right lead. Fingers crossed.

This is the good-boy face of a pony who picked up the right lead. 😍 #justalittlejointjuice #whiskeytheappaloosa

A post shared by Beka (@bekaburke) on Feb 25, 2018 at 9:49am PST

I made it to Saturday of this past weekend riding Whiskey myself, but officially bowed out after he started bucking in the trot to canter transitions (okay, so submission needs work!). Katy put the Spotted Dickhead through his paces on Sunday and she'll continue to do so for as long as I can hitch a trailer (maybe longer if I can convince her to come to me).

I'm still trail riding Archie, but the concern now is less about my safety on my rock-solid, ancient trail pony and more about crossing that 20% weight guideline. He willingly waits for me to mount and dismount at the picnic table. He doesn't seem uncomfortable with my change in balance or my weight, but I'm keen on keeping the old man functioning f o r e v e r.

Latest on the weird little teeth. #boldarcher #seniorhorse #ottb #expiredteeth

A post shared by Beka (@bekaburke) on Feb 21, 2018 at 3:29pm PST

vet med

You Trifling

8:11 PM
By Beka Burke
4 Comments

lesson

That Time I Barfed.

4:05 PM
By Beka Burke
5 Comments

derp

$100 Derp.

10:51 AM
By Beka Burke
6 Comments

giveaway

WTF is Whiskey?

10:29 AM
By Beka Burke
32 Comments

dressage

Legit AF.

4:04 PM
By Beka Burke
12 Comments

dressage

Around and Around.

4:01 PM
By Beka Burke
5 Comments

I had another lesson with Katy ~~last night~~ Sunday. These are so informative and beneficial that I'm going to try to be a better blogger and/or rider and do something to retain the information (aka.... empty promises).

I got to the lesson about ten minutes late because someone was a total grumpy shit about getting into my trailer. The same trailer he's ridden in once a week for a few months now. I blame it on last week, when the mats were wet and he slid a little bit.

(Which poses the question - is that one of the reasons that people put shavings in their trailers?)

Anyways, after mounting, we went to her play pasture and started working on a large (40m?) circle. The name of the game is immediately getting him off my leg and into the contact. I can't stress enough how badly I need new video of this guy undersaddle, because he is not the same horse. After warming up at the walk and trot, Katy had me doing some trot pole exercises.

Initially, it was just a clover through a flat box:

Except after one time through, she would yell the direction and I would reroute him from the center of the box. Having a trainer with a bit of ADD actually helps.

After going through the box a few times, she raised one end of every pole, so if you were trotting on a straight line, the first pole would up on the right and the second pole would be up on the left, etc. And then she added two poles at a diagonal from one end, like so:

With dark blue indicating which edge was raised.

Then she added a new pattern - top to bottom, track left, loop around top to diagonal on right, roll back to diagonal on left. It was a hot mess, but it got better every time we did it. She actually told me to stop worrying about bending (!) so much and just focus on keeping his neck between the reins.

All in all, it was super informative. I'm just smitten with this horse and super impressed with his progress. She told me that I couldn't back him until we got to second level*, and then joked that it would be like next month.

*western horses are backed a lot, I guess? so when I halt him, his inclination is to give me a few steps back.

Achilles

auribus teneo lupum

3:49 PM
By Beka Burke
5 Comments

Archie

Grandpa's doing pretty damn well. I took him off the SmartFlex Senior that he's been on for about a decade when my vet recommended that he start Equioxx. He's been pulling me around on trail rides and marching around the dirt box. We had drama at the barn this summer/fall, but I'm great at covert fisticuffs and the issues have been mostly resolved, which means he's putting weight back on. It's the great catch-22 of senior horses with arthritis - I don't want to see your ribs because you're a senior, but I still want the thought of them because of your shitty joints.

My farrier recently noted some changes in his hoof structure on that shitty right front. While he didn't seem overly concerned about additional possible lameness issues in my already crippled semi-retired geriatric, I still set up an appointment with my beloved vet to get maintenance rads of that hoof. It's been two years since the shit hit the fan, so it feels like time. That'll be Friday.

Whiskey

We've had a ~~couple~~ few more lessons since last I wrote. Two were with friends who outshine my inverted one-lead pony. One time, I got to use a driving rein (a la Mary-Kate) and then worked on a "bow-tie" exercise, but not at the same time. Trainer is at the point where I'm no longer allowed to hold his face or have more than the barest of contact. He's solely responsible for his balance, but I am supposed to invite him to come over his back. This takes a level of finesse that neither of us were really sure I had. Surprise, I do!

My third lesson was solo and it was devoted to building topline - or, rather, teaching me the tools and contact I needed to keep him using the right muscles while also not enabling him to brace against me. It was a lot of "Supple! Hands forward! Supple! Hands forward!"

The time change has really fucked me over, though. We moved barns back in the spring and this new barn just doesn't have adequate light for me to ride after work. There are a few flood lights, so I'm thinking Whisk is going to be introduced to side-reins in the semi-dark. I'm not killing myself about it because we aren't working towards anything big any time soon - mostly just getting his muscles to reform in the correct places.

Zoom zoom.

Best Bitches

The big girls are good - though Savannah has recently had a cystocentesis for a urinary analysis and culture, as well as abdominal radiographs. Poor old lady has been battling chronic UTIs for the past seven years or so. Between the culture and the UA, we've determined that she has proteus bacteria, but fortunately no stones. Just sludge. Twenty days of simplicef and a temporary diet change.

Tiny terrorist, Hedwig, on far left, looking way too big.

The tiny terrorist is doing well, too. She started obedience classes recently and has caught on quickly. I trained Scarlette and Savannah all by myself and they were well-trained and obedient dogs, but it's much harder when I'm not the only one doing it. Which is to say, D needs dog-training, too.

Okay, so I'm good at spoiling.

Shittens

Speaking of assholes and urine, D's cat blocked again. For those unfamiliar with the horrible construction of a male cat's urethra, that shit gets blocked by the thought of blocking and then the cat can't pee. Good-bye kidney function and hello sepsis and rupturing. Fortunately, we caught it quickly and they were able to unblock him with relative ease. D and I had already talked about the PU surgery (he becomes a she, as we used to call it) and, also fortunately, he's completely on board to slice up that member in order to lessen the likelihood of this ever happening again.