Willpower

I swear, someday I will do something other than complain about the weather. I wish I knew when that someday will come. It's not today, that's for sure.

I did morning chores: mid-20s with a wicked rattling wind that hit the barn and rattled it from end to end. Yesterday's rain had frozen into a think lacquer over every inch of ground outside. It snowed lightly on and off all morning, and half the water buckets had ice rims. I was wearing many layers and so kept reasonably warm but the cold sapped my energy and made me sluggish. Midwinter bitter cold can be invigorating; this has overstayed its welcome.

We made good time on chores, and I dithered about riding, for no good reason. I finally fell back on a bullish, one-foot-in-front-of-the-other persistence and tacked up for 40 minutes of dressage school. I pushed the warmup a bit, to see how he felt running through everything quickly, and to see where our weak spots would be today.

The answer: forward. So we had a bit of a hand gallop, then a walk break, then a long trot session with emphasis on forward and round. Get the hind end moving, then load it with a half-halt, filling up the outside rein. Tried a bit of that in the canter but got nowhere, so we stuck to the trot.

When I finished up, the farrier had arrived to do the first half of the barn - we're split into two offset groups - and I was able to thank him for his terrific work with Tristan and confirm the plan to pull his shoes in mid-April. 

Pentosan arrived over the weekend, but I am holding off on the loading dose until next Monday: he gets the last of his IM vaccines tomorrow, and since Pentosan can be a blood thinner for the first 48 hours, I am, as always, acting out of an over abundance of caution.

I got home at 1pm, took a long hot shower, ate lunch, read for about an hour, and fell sound asleep on top of my book. Whoops.

Tris will go in a 30 minute walk-trot lesson tomorrow, Wednesday off, and then Thursday we will attempt a road hack since the weather is, on paper, supposed to cooperate.

Winter vMillion.0

Target area: my county and the three surrounding counties.

That sound you hear is the sobbing of quiet despair.

They do make us worry...

Running late from work last night, I got to the barn with the intention of longeing briefly and then heading out to meet the boyfriend for a movie date.

Got to the barn, kissed Tris on the nose on my way past his stall, and went into the tack room to grab the longe line. When I got back to his stall, he was lying down.

My brain went into immediate overdrive. I watched him for a minute or two, and he was alert and looking at me. He stayed lying down when I got into his stall, but that's not unusual for him - when I catch him napping, he's happy to have me come in and sit with him.

I put a halter on him and asked him to get up, and he did so immediately. Three piles of manure in the stall, half a bucket of water gone, and the hay he'd gotten ~2 hours ago was eaten to every last scrap. He was interested in me but perhaps a bit quieter than normal. Good gut sounds - but perhaps slower on his left side?

I put him on the cross ties and grabbed his antacids; he ate them a bit more slowly, less enthusiastically than he usually does. He dropped two of them out of his mouth, and at that moment the barn owner came in and I explained to her what I was seeing. I offered him the antacids again and he ate them happily. Usually when I feed them to him before I ride, he mugs me for more, and he was just a little too quiet this time.

I put him on the longe line for about 20 minutes of WTC. He was perhaps a bit lazy again, but he moved out easily enough and did some stretching. I did some belly lifts with him, listened to gut sounds again - still fine - and he passed some gas on the walk back to his stall, then again in his stall. I started to feel a bit better at that.

I picked out his stall, and left the stall guard up so he could poke his head out. Manure was normal, not too dry or too wet. He begged shamelessly for dinner, and we gave him half his grain. I fed him 12 simethicone tablets (generic Gas-X), which he ate with more enthusiasm than the antacids, and headed in to town for the movie. After the movie, I drove back to the barn and he was acting totally normally.

I'm still not sure if I overreacted or if I woke him up from a nap and that's why he was sluggish. Either way, he's pulled out of it just fine, and the incident caused me to double-check the banamine paste in my tack trunk. It expired this fall, so I asked my vet for two more tubes - one for my tack trunk, one for the trailer!

Book Sale Find

Last night, I dropped a book I'd finished off at the library (Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay, which I'd thought would be more about horses given they are the catalyst for the whole plot, but...nope)

I glanced over the book sale cart because I am helpless in the face of books. And I made a GREAT find, for $1:

It is in gorgeous condition, and matches my copy of The Black Stallion perfectly (except my copy is kind of in pieces).

At one point I had dared Hannah to do a re-read of all the Black Stallion books. Maybe starting that will be a way to pretend that it will be summer again someday?

Always Winter, Never Christmas

I am becoming a weather atheist. There is no season but winter, and weather men are false prophets.

I took this picture a few days ago, but it still looks exactly the same today.

It was below zero again last night. On March 26. Below zero. Single digits so far today, and it's going to hail & sleet later.

I did get to ride last night, and we had a credible fitness session, including two 10 minute trot sets. The first mostly loose and low, the second incorporating all sorts of lateral work and poles. He was holding up so well I went for some short canter sets. I initially thought 1 minute canters, but during the first I glanced down at my watch and we'd gone for 1:25, so I pushed it to 2 minutes. I did them all in two point, too.

Then 2 minutes of walking, then another 2 minutes of canter. He was barely winded. Huzzah for fitness! We'll keep adding to that. I'd love to get him up to 20 minute trot sets and 5 minute canter sets this summer.

One point of concern is that he had a barely perceptible four beat in his left canter. He felt steady and strong, and I honestly wasn't quite sure what to do to address it in that moment. I have some ideas going forward - poles, careful attention on the longe line, continued fitness, Pentosan - but would appreciate any thoughts.