Broken pelvis, broken dreams.

In less than optimum news, I'm now stuck on crutches with a broken pelvis and can't ride for 3 months. THREE. WHOLE. MONTHS. Meaning I'll miss being able to use my Christmas holidays to ride, I'll lose out on all the hard work Kadey and I have been doing AND I'm going to miss most of the next show season as I can't ride til March, then will need a few months to get my seat back in order as it'll be a bit different.

My family all want me to sell Kadey and I guess I have some big thinking ahead. It's so hard, we've done so much work and I love him to tears. But he's always going to be a bit flighty. But he's so lovely. But, but, but....

Shiny pony is shiny

...even with his wooly winter coat!

Weather update

It's not rainng! Ok it's overcast and gloomy but whatever, there are no rain drops! Fongers crossed that it holds off until AFTER I ride tonight AND that my horse is less crazy than he was on Sunday. Eep, I don't want to be afraid of my horse!

EDIT: I spoke too soon, it's raining now. I think I brought it on myself! 

Rain, rain, go away...

Today was rainy and horrible and by the time I got out to Kadey they'd already rugged him (in his winter rug already!) and fed him. So even though I took out some sugar cubes, I wasn't interesting to him at all as he was mid chew on Weight lifter. It was interesting - my current theory is that he hasn't learnt to take treats from someone's hand so no matter what he won't take what I give. OR he just doesn't trust me yet.

I'm pretty emo about the fact that he isn't falling over himself to be nice to me - but I'm thinking that he's one of those horses who it's really hard to build a relationship with but once you do, they're loyal.

First ride... needs work!

 

Today was my first ride on KD as ‘my horse’. It…. Wasn’t the best. I luged him first as he was just too jumpy on the ground. I didn’t want to lunge straight after a spell but he’s just too much of a nutbar not to. 

I started out with a grooming session – he was super sore on a spot near his wither, I think perhaps his rug is rubbing? He doesn’t have a bridle path or his withers trimmed at all so I’ll take scissors over and do that tomorrow and see if that helps. Otherwise I’ll move him to a different rug.

I lunged him first – I haven’t figured out what his command for ‘stop’ is but by the end of the session we’d established slowing down between paces. I’m pretty sure he knows how and what, he just has different commands that I’m obviously not using. The way I’ve done it in the past is to move forward so I block the horse’s line of vision – either with my body or an arm. But with KD, moving in front of him just makes him rush, then panic and buck and/or take off. So I’ll do some research to look into it. He also goes into canter with a buck/pigroot in my general direction so I need to work that out – he’s always weird with his canter transitions so I want to get to the bottom of it.

After that I rode him – I wimped out and rode him in the roundyard where I’d lunged him. As I led him down there, he went really weird like he was in pain or being bitten somewhere on or near his offside hindquarters. It was weird and he kind of grunted a bit and ran a circle around me. He did it twice, then once more once I got on him. I think maybe the saddle was too far back which would also have contributed to issues under saddle.

above: the saddle moved back during the ride :(

We walked for a bit then I asked for trot but he started to raise his back up and pigroot a little. I thought I’d leave it at walk for today, I just focused on walk/halt transitions and finished with a really basic turn on the forehand, which went really well. Yay!

From here I think I’ll try him in the arena tomorrow – pending how crazy he is. It’ll be after work so I won’t have a lot of daylight. I might try him in the arena at a walk and see if he calms into it? I’m also going to try to rebook Susan Marshall for another confidence-boosting lesson. I know she can’t do much with me given he’s coming back from a spell but I think I’m just after someone to hold my hand. I’m comforted by the fact that one of my best horses in the past was impossible when I got her, but we grew together and by the time I sold her she was an angel and we wont everything we entered. So I know a difficult horse isn’t the end of the world – KD is just edgy about being in a new place with a new rider. In time we’ll be fine, so I’m working to not get discouraged or frightened by this enormous scary animal that is completely unpredictable. 

After the ride I washed him - I'm not a fan of overwashing a horse, but he was so greasy and gross that it had to be done. I'm sure he'll be a fluffmoster when I get there tomorrow. 

Fun facts

1. Kadey has an even shorter attention span than I do – two seconds of being tied up and he’s pawing at the ground, untying his leadrope and generally getting into trouble then panicking – ie he somehow looped the lead rope around the hitching rail and then panicked. Luckily he didn’t hit his head and calmed down enough for me to untie him. But yes – getting into mischief = Kadey’s favourite hobby. 

2. My horse doesn't love me. Yet. He also doesn't like any of the treats I have for him. I'm going to try sugarcubes, carrotes and bread with jam tomorrow to see how I go. I'm struggling with not being able to feed him, it's making the bonding process VERY slow. I know it's only day 2 but it was weird, after I took him back to his paddock he wanted nothing to do with me once he realised I had no food for him and even walked away when I walked towards him. 

I'm worried I've taught him to disrespect me - he was naughty at the trot so we just walked and now this. I need to build a relationship and assert our roles (ie - I'm lead horse!) ASAP!

Welcome Verkade!

I have a horse! I'm a bit shocked by the whole thing - I gave him a hug goodbye tonight and had to think 'this is actually my horse!'.

He's filthy (and OMG the tack he came with...) and a bit edgy about being in a new place with new people. I also forgot that like any relationship, it needs to be built over time. My memories of my past horses are all of them once we had built that bond and loved each other. So it was weird to be with 'my' horse but have him be a bit off and nervous with me. So we certainly need to build that relationship - and to be fair he was a bit freaked out by being put in a new place after living at the same one for that last 2 years.

He came with an extensive wardrobe as the previous owner moved overseas. But OMG, it took me 2 hours to work through it and it'll take me another 4 - 5 hours to clean it all! The leather is either mouldy or just outright FILTHY, with grime, sweat, hair and dirt caked on everything. To be honest I'm looking forward to doing it, it's just a matter of finding time. I might clean the stuff I'll be riding in first then start working my way through the rest. It was such a weird collection - parts of at least 5 bridles, including a weymouth and some random pony bits. And 5 packs of lintex dressing. And various bottles with labels so faded I just tossed it out. And everything is purple. His float boots, rugs, saddlecloths, work boots, random towels.... everything. I'm not really a purple person, but for the next few weeks/months I'll be rocking the purple look. Thankfully I have some of my own stuff in storage so I'll bring it out to break up the purple parade.

I had a bit of drama collecting him but we eventually got on the road at about 1.30 and he was at the agistment place by 2.30pm. He floated really well, stable and calm. He was a bit bored at the start, pawing at the floor; but settled and travelled really well. Once they got him there (I was another 10 minutes behind thanks to a GPS issue) he sat in the roundyard while I unpacked and filled out the paperwork. His paddock is in a STUNNING location and his nearest friend is across a laneway. The fence is electric - when I went up to say goodbye after unpacking he was a bit wary of the fence so I think he got a zap while I was going through his gear.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow - riding him as 'my horse' for the first time. I'll also spend a good amount of time grooming him and probably will give him a solid bath just to get that greasy, dirty coat under control. Hopefully he's settled in and our ride goes well :)