Monday, June 24, 2013

Crazy Kids

Photo by Susan Black
After a week of travel, Danazdor finally arrived over a week ago, Sunday morning, as I was pulling in with my morning coffee and plans to run horses through the jump chute.

His original ETA was for Wednesday that week, then pushed to Friday, then Saturday, and by that time, I just threw my hands up and wished that we crated him up with UPS.

Surprisingly, he came off the trailer no worse for wear. He was dusty, a little thirsty, and hungry. He hadn't dropped a single pound on his trip. Silly air fern.  We are just in case- going to start him on ulcer stuff because of the rapid change in grass quality and the long travel. He was popped back into place by Thursday by the chiro, and will probably have more body work done by my regular girl, Dr. Tummlin. But for a four year old that just criss-crossed the entire western US, and arrived at a busy barn, he is surprisingly mellow and no worse for wear.

After I rolled through everyone in the chute, I got to play with him a little bit. He's a ham on the ground, doesn't want to be chased, would rather be cuddled and thinks he's the best. He's the first horse that I know automatically poses for photos. He's also a carrot whore.

Because of the travel, the body work, the change in everything we're keeping it light this week, he was lunged the first day, and the second day was lunged/ridden to no drama or fireworks. After the adjustment, we rode one more time in the arena and hacked out, already feeling better. Sunday was a hack day, we took him and a barnmate out to Masterson to work the hills a little more extensively. He was quick to settle into the routine and worked very well in the arena and went trotting/cantering outside with very little fuss, just a little looky. The only thing I can fault him on is that he doesn't like water, and has no idea how to go through it.

He's incredibly obedient under saddle, but after riding horses with a lot of gears, this guy hasn't found his yet. This is mostly because he has to develop physically. He also carries tension over the back which really diminishes his gaits (which are flipping fantastic) so there's a lot of work to do with developing his hind end and more looseness. We've developed a plan of attack for his schedule (it involves hills, an aquatred and alot of transitions). Despite all this, he's easy and easy to sit, just lacks developing.


Looking at schedule, we might go out and do a few schooling shows through July and early August, and one of the local barns is hosting a low key show with a materiale class attached to it. It sounds like a good precursor to the fall shows that we're taking a solid aim for.  

But honestly, for a four year old, couldn't be more thrilled. 

2 comments:

SheMovedtoTexas said...

Glad he took the trip well! Any exercises you can suggest for getting a horse to release the tension in their back would be greatly appreciated :) I have the same problem with my horse.

Kelly said...

Chiro every three to four weeks, followed by massage or acupuncture and a mild dose of or banamine if really spazzy. Double check saddle fit every three months to see if things are still right.