Hope

it's been an odd year. cute sereele has fallen to her knees and lost her balance 3 times under saddle. very concerning and distressing for me. Tim has done an amazing job getting her hoof angles correct, but still the stumbling. we have been to Stow and Lake dennison a few times with chris and socks and have had a great time, she is really really good on rides away from home, I know she will be a great horse if she can stay upright. I took her up to Lisa Terrell's for a training session in her arena and she looked like crap. short strided, on the forehand, stumbling. not good. so i've been pretty bummed out, wondering if she has neurological problems, some kind of pain, or is she just totally uncoordinated and will always be dangerous to ride. Dr Carmel is coming friday to do some testing and the chiropractor in novemember to see if we can get any answers.
In the mean time Chris and I went to Rene's ride in shirley on sunday. this was Indy's first ride as a 4 year old when judy rode gem and we were lost for almost 5 hours. it was a nightmare! then last year I rode KC with rebecca but Sonny wasn't feeling well so KC and I finished on our own. why would I want to go back with such a great track record there? well the people are super nice, it's close and really beautiful this time of year. oh and LOTS of food! I hoped to go out late so I wouldn't have to deal with too many horses in front or behind. well thanks to Socks, we were very late so no problem:). he was an ASS about loading. took about 40 minutes to get him in. he would either just shut down and not move or totally freak out if tapped with the whip. ug, I give chris credit for not beating the snot out of him. I took him at one point but gave him back before I regretted what my temper would make me do. finally he decided to go in on sereeles side. fine! whatever! meanwhile sereele was just free eating on the front lawn, we got her and she hopped right in. once at the ride we unloaded sereele and suddenly a horse was loose and racing around with it's bridle around his front legs. afraid socks would freak out we quickly got him off the trailer. he proceeded to eat grass in a nervous fit, tearing it out of the ground in a manic frenzy. what is going on with him? this is so unlike him. sereele was quiet and happy to eat in a normal lady like manner while I tacked up. chris bravely mounted up and I led sereele out to the street. socks appeared to be over his mental illness once chris got on and settled right in, thank God. sereele was her usual good but nervous and spooky self and I got on after about 1/4 mile. socks was power walking up the street, we had to trot to keep up. sereele felt great today. strong. we turned off the street into someones back yard with a huge puddle that I had to beat KC over last year. sereele just skimmed around the edge, no problem. we did some nice easy trotting, I told sereele to lift up her feet over the roots and as I said it socks picked up his feet very high. it was so funny, like when I mentioned the alligator before and he did a monster spook at a log. so we decided he was listening to me and I would tell him what to do. didn't work when I told him he could poop and walk at the same time though. we did some slow trotting and walked down the hills. came to the orchard and they were both pretty pumped in there. chris said socks was not behaving but we made it around and I commented that this was the first year I didn't get lost in the orchards thanks to her eagle eyes seeing the markers. spoke to soon. we nervously passed a howling dog as I yelled out for her to slow down and she said "i'm trying" and then the ribbons were gone. luckily I knew what direction to go from previous years so it worked out. we came to the photographer and sereele posed cutely like a little model. socks was having a hissy fit and wouldn't stand still. I can't wait to see the scowl on chris's face when we get her pictures. hahaha. then onward and lost again in the orchard but found some ribbons and continued on. down a steep muddy hill, I got off and let sereele slide down on her own. picked up an apple and had a bite then split the rest with S&S. kept leading her up and down the roller coaster hills. back on and we came to the decision point. we'd done 6 miles and could do 6 more or just go back. Sereele felt so strong and coordinated I wanted to push the envelope and do the 12. chris agreed so off we went! the next 6 miles were loopy and up and down, sereele went first most of the way. very brave. afraid of a mossy tree and a bright yellow tree but kept going. socks did have to get her past a few scary spots, but all in all she was fantastic. did one impressive sliding stop at a puddle that was apparently quite different than the other 100 puddles she had seen that day. instead of tiring she wanted to go faster, I think she just wanted to get home, but I am happy with her energy level. she did one bad stumble and let out a big grunt but other than that the tripping was minimal. we trotted over lots of down trees and went through some nasty stone wall areas. oh yeah, one stream was one of the ones that you have to go down into then back up. socks didn't like the looks of it so I brought sereele up to it, she had actually crossed a few previously ahead of him. he decided no way was she going first and smashed up the other side nearly taking off chris's knee cap, I think we both had our eyes closed. I missed a few markers but chris caught them and we made it back out to the street and back to the trailer. I was so proud and happy, new hope that she will be OK. she drank from puddles and ate leaves and even peed under saddle. good endurance qualities! and she even sweated alot- no anhidrosis! socks was very well behaved on the ride, but back at the trailer he reverted to retard. screaming for sereele when chris tried to take him to get a piece of pizza and not loading again. they had their yummy mash and grass for a while, we ate and loaded up. socks only took about 5 mintues and wanted the other side this time. sereele actually hesitated before loading as if to say "he is on MY side." but she set a good example for her older, supposedly wiser friend. :) so I had a great final ride of the season. I will remember it to help get through the long winter ahead :(. even though socks was in Chris's words "heinous" he really was a good boy overall and much appreciated to help sereele have a good calm experience on her new adventures.

The Crankmonster!!!!!

Ugh! I guess I should have stayed in bed and so should have Socks! I fed early Sunday morning as always and I should have known that it was going to be a bad day. He made faces and wouldn't let me put the lead around him to take him out to the pasture. Whatever! Fast forward a couple of hours later when CB and I are ready to go on the ride in Shirley...our last big hurrah....Socks takes one look at me coming to catch him and he walks away!!! Jerk! I get him on the crossties and he's pawing and being obnoxious.....oh yay! Now, it's time to go on the trailer.....hasn't been much of a problem as of late but that day was a totally different story!!!! He PLANTED his feet and wouldn't even get on the ramp of the trailer. GRRRRR! I hate when he does this. I got a whip and so did CB, and that just progressed him to the jumping around like we're stabbing him with hot pokers level......totally losing patience at this point. CB takes him and he's a total jerk for her too. Finally, after about 40 minutes, yep, you read that right, 40 minutes, he got on the other side of the trailer.....whatever...he's on! On to Shirley! We get to our ride and he's drenched in sweat. I have no idea why he's having such a meltdown with riding on the trailer.....it's not like CB is a crazy driver! ;) We get Sereele off (CB will write later on how wonderful that little girl was!) and then, just as we're about to let Socks off, a horse bolts across the field we're all parked in! At this point, I figured it was best to have him get upset off the trailer and not in it so off he went. Fine. He then progressed to maniacally eating the grass like he's never had a meal in his life! Not happy! I started tacking up....not a big deal, until the bridle....he clenched his teeth and wouldn't take the bit..not even for a piece of carrot! REALLY?!?!?!? Finally, after much head tossing and backing up and pretending he felt the need to bolt too, I got the bridle on! Now, I have to get on this crazy beast....I must be crazy myself! I mount up...he feels like a loaded spring...."I'm going to die on this ride" I think to myself. We start off and it's a ways down a paved road to the trail.....as we're going, he calms down....oooh, there's hope yet! The trails were pretty nice and he was a good boy in them....some were a bit rocky and some were a bit muddy and we did ok.......until.....the apple orchard. Something in his little brain snapped again and he was psycho....spooking at car noises on the road, yanking the reins out of my hands to eat grass, trotting at a breakneck pace (which he can't do comfortably like Zak can) and just all around not listening to me at all. I was so annoyed with him and then, we came to a hill. Oh boy. As we're "trotting" up the hill, not listening to me, and hating the fact that he couldn't bolt up the hill like a rocketship, we pass a couple of houses. One of those houses had a dog.....and that dog HOWLED! Yay, that revved him up even more...not to mention, we lost sight of any of the markers telling us where to go. UGH! Finally, we find some markers and around the corner is a photographer. Cool! Could we stand still for even one picture? Absolutely not! We side passed (beautifully I might add but not what I was asking for), we backed up, we made heinous faces, we went in circles, we went under a low tree branch but we didn't pose for the pictures....Sereele on the other hand, is such a good girl and I can't wait to see the pics of her! Onward! The rest of the ride wasn't bad...we got back into the woods and he seems to like that better. We came across some logs and I thought for sure he would jump them....well, he did.....sideways! REALLY?!?!?!? I wasn't even aware that a horse could do that! Mine can! UGH! I can't complain about his behavior for the rest of the ride.....we went 12 miles and he was tired. However, he was a jerk once we got back to the trailer. He just didn't want to stand still, wouldn't let me get something to eat or drink, and then progressed to screaming. WTF?!? CB kindly let me hold her angel (she was soooooo good, I'm so happy for CB and Sereele), and got us some food. For some reason, both horses, mostly Socks, wanted the pizza we were eating but when CB relented and gave Socks the crust, he spit it out like it was poison. Dork! Time to get on the trailer to go home.....CB gave him a cookie and he spit that out at her like the pizza crust! That was kind of funny given the kind of day I was having with him because he spit it out on her shoe. Ok, lets go in the trailer.......oh Hell no! We got him all the way on, but not enough and he backed up and out. I was about to tie him to the back of the trailer and have him run home! ;) We tried putting him on the other side and he finally got on. Whatever, he's on! However, Sereele decided that that side was hers and actually balked getting on the trailer! It was only for a second though. We were joking around that the two horses were like little kids on a road trip.."He's on my side!"...."She's touching me!"........."He took my snack!"...."She's looking at me!". The trip home was uneventful but he was still a bit sweaty on the trailer. I have no idea why he's upset....it's a roomy ride. UGH! Well, I survived, and so did he......guess it's time to do some more groundwork to let him know who's boss again. I did have fun though despite his total lack of working brain cells. I just chalk it up to experience.....a year ago I wouldn't have gotten on him so at least my confidence is coming back in leaps and bounds......think it's because I'm just getting pissed off, ha ha ha. Anyway, I'll look back at this and laugh......right? =)