Tuesday was P's last ultrasound (thank god.. the poor mare's skin is all sorts of wacked out from that gel..), and final handwalk. We had a lovely trip around the property to watch the leaves change and dragon snort at some small children..
P was remarkably well behaved until we went inside the ring and she was a monster. Impressive aires above ground, bucking, snorting kicking. BAD MARE. Be nice to your tendons, k thx.
Wednesday, I returned the machine, and was informed that the reason my vet won't call me back about our continued work schedule is because he went to WEG and is ignoring all non-emergencies. great, k thx.
P's legs have been staying cool, and tight so I decided to attempt some quiet trot work on the lunge. Not possible. As soon as I snapped side reins on (in an attempt to keep the mare reeled in) she was all sorts of hot and bothered. She even repeated her July/August "I can't possibly" have a saddle on my back routine and bucked wildly and uncomfortably. Not wanting to fight her about it(/beat her into remembering how to behave), I pulled tack and decided we would jog in hand.
Please remember, I hate jogging. Hate. Jogging. It's literally one of my least favorite activities out there. BUT, Pia is exceptionally well behaved in hand, and I wanted to get a bit of trotting under our belt one way or another. So... we jogged. We jogged for 20 minutes (which might be some sort of personal record). We jogged fast, we jogged slow, we took a few walk breaks, but mostly we jogged.
I was slightly relieved to see that the mare was huffing almost as badly as I was, but mostly I was bummed about how much fitness we've (both) lost over the last 3 weeks.
Since her leg stayed nice and tight and lovely, yesterday my plan was to ace her a bit and put the girl back under saddle for more trotting. Well, I of course, woke up with a cold (a nasty, mean feverish cold), so I delegated the ride to the BO, and I watched wistfully from the corner wrapped around my cup of tea..
P was mostly behaved. 1cc seemed to take the edge off just perfectly. She was still "acting up" on the lunge but it was a hop into the canter instead of a full on acrobatic display... After about 10 min of trotting, BO got on, and P was right back to where she was 8 weeks ago (tear). Cranky, refusing to move forward and jigging when you asked her to slow down.
We finally got about 20 good minutes of trotting out of her (lots of increase/decrease and transitions) before calling it. I think I'm learning that this mare just has to be worked all the time. She is not a good patient, and not good at starting back up again. She is good at working when she's being worked... but she's too brainy and fidgety to sit and do nothing.
Our current plan is to work her at the walk/trot through the weekend and then building canter up next week. Also, she's on full turnout (including nighttime) for a few days so that her brain can expand past her stall a bit.
OH, and other fun news?? BO has a pair of barely used Konigs in mostly my size that she'd part with for $150! They are almost tall enough to be perfect, almost skinny enough and almost perfect in the foot. I'm always between sizes, so a little big in the foot + fluffy socks takes care of that, the height is great now, but I anticipate that they'll drop a bit more, and the calf is fine for now, though I could have it tightened up a bit if I felt like I needed to. They are total stovepipes, which I've never really ridden in, but maybe it will help solve my "eventer heel" that is constantly jammed down with my toe pointed out...
I'm gonna ride in them this weekend (hopefully), and if they work, then YAY. An affordable solution to my boot issue!
Anyway aside from that, this girl is (still) wrapped around her tea, chomping on cough drops, and attempting to stay upright..
I've had a terrible cold too... there's all kinds of awful stuff going around. Hope we both feel better soon!
ReplyDeleteNothing like being sick!! Hope you feel better soon!!
ReplyDelete