Photos! And a couple of trail rides

This post is old because I never got around to uploading the photos until now.  So two weeks ago I used my feminine wiles to convince Sergio to come out and visit Starbuck with me, dropping a casual hint that since I had given her a bath with my special shampoo for black horses she would be very photogenic.  So we ended up with a lovely photo shoot to show off our new and improved relationship, which I'll showcase below.

In other news we had a lovely lesson that Saturday morning including a few low jumps where she showed lots of impulsion and a fair amount of straightness both going in to and coming out of the jumps.  Her trot was much more even as well, especially after she warmed up.  And Sunday I went out on a trail ride with Carmen, another friend from the barn.  I was very proud of us because our two horses had always simply followed more confident horses on trail rides and had never gone out "on their own" before.  Carmen's horse Trueno (that's Spanish for "Thunder") wasn't really up to leading, but neither was he really willing to accept Starbuck as a leader at first.  And Starbuck was pretty sure she didn't want to go in front.  So the first 20 minutes or so were really a struggle, as we fought their urge to turn around and hustle back to the barn and sat out the inevitable spooks passing through "mad dog alley" (this is about a 200 foot stretch of road where the houses on either side seem to have about 8 dogs each who are completely freaked out by horses).  I had to use my crop more than I'm proud of, but hopefully I'll be able to rely on it less next time and really when moving traffic is involved the choice is pretty clear.  My goal for Christmas is to be able to ride without a crop.

Our brand new fancy schmancy reflective saddlepad will hopefully make us more visible to traffic (thanks to Carmen for the pics)

Once Starbuck figured out that I really meant to keep going and not let her take charge, she calmed down and kept up a really nice rhythm (except for a little bit of balking at some big brightly colored trash containers) and led the way for the whole ride.  She even let Trueno trot beside her nicely without any ear pinning or other threats, and kept up a nice even, rhythmic trot with only a slight tendency to turn her head to the left (back towards the stable, not surprisingly).  We even "practiced" walking on the sidewalk in one neighborhood and stepping on and off the curb - no problem!  So all in all I'm pretty proud of myself for persisting and not freaking out when the going got tough and extremely proud of Starbuck for being able to trust me enough to take it all in stride and even be the leader for once.

This week I've been sick, but Sunday we went on another trail ride with Virginia and ended up walking all around a park and going through some "obstacles" (like a kid's jungle gym, a platform for people to do steps on, some low-lying poles...) which was loads of fun and I think a real confidence builder for Starbuck.  The only thing which really freaked her out was a kid on a skateboard, and walking past the racketball courts - so two things to keep in mind to work on.  And yesterday I rode her in a lesson and she was much better with her unevenness / limpy thing.  This weekend she'll get another rest since I'll be out of town, so hopefully we'll finally start seeing some real progress.

Here are the lurvely photos... unfortunately my favorite ones were lost in IT-land but this gives me an even better excuse for Sergio to come and take more ;)

Mixed Feelings

This week is one of mixed feelings.  On the one hand, Starbuck's still uneven at the trot and doesn't reach as far underneath her with her right hind.  While it's not exactly lameness, I still don't feel confident working her 100% and it's something I have on my mind pretty much constantly.  She has no visible swelling, hotspots or pain anywhere in her legs.  At the walk she's perfect.  At the canter she's perfect.  But trotting (especially going to the left) you can tell that there's something wrong.  My vet has ruled out tendon or bone issues and is convinced it's back or hip tension causing this, I've had the physical therapist out to work on her and between holidays, rain and preparing for the show with Vent she's had what amounts to about a month and a half of paddock rest with a few interludes of hour-long hacks, lungeing and very light riding.

Since she was doing better a couple of weeks ago but has now reverted to her old gimpy highjinks, I'm a little tempted to call up the "specializes in lameness" vet and ask for a second opinion.  But both my vet and the physical therapist advised me to work her normally, with an emphasis on extensions.  So I've decided to keep doing just that for at least a little while longer - if she gets worse or doesn't improve at all after a few weeks I can always stop working her and call the other vet and if she gets better then great.  I'm trying to be objective about it and remember that when I personally have pain issues (especially back pain), generally the only way I can get it to go away is through exercise.

On the other hand, we are really reaching a new level in our relationship which I'm absolutely thrilled with.  I'm convinced that my focussing on giving her more positive feedback and trying to dial down the negative feedback (less scolding, more praise) is really having a great effect on her behavior and motivation.  I'm also able to use lighter and fewer aids than before and hardly ever get to the point of having a battle of wills.  It actually feels like she's listening to me and waiting for my next instruction, and I hardly have to nag at her to keep going at all.  In our lessons, to try to ensure that she doesn't just go around and around "practicing" unevenness, Marina has suggested that I do lots of transitions and work a lot over ground poles and tires and stuff so she has to think quick on her feet.  We're also doing a fair amount of turns on the haunches to loosen up her back (which she's starting to get pretty good at), shoulder-in to build her up a little for more impulsion and trotting poles to work on her abdominal muscles.

As a result of all of this, her transitions are really getting spot-on - right when I ask for them, with ever-lighter aids and less dragging of feet than she usually does (trot?  you REALLY want me to trot?  are you SURE about that?  oooooookay...).  And after about 20 minutes of warming up with walk-stop-walk and walk-trot-walk transitions, her trot is definitely a lot more even and the irregularity is barely noticeable.  But best of all?  Her canter has improved immeasurably!  Tuesday and Wednesday we only did transitions, never letting her get more than 5 or 6 canter strides in before going back to a trot.  But yesterday she was moving well enough I decided to let her keep going for about a 30 meter circle to the right, and it was the best canter I've ever experienced on her.  Smooth, rhythmic, energetic, even a little floaty... it was like a dream come true!  And in the other direction it was almost as good, although there was a little head-shaking (probably related to the unevenness thing).  And best of all?  In the three lessons we've had this week, even now that it's dark enough for the arena lights to cast long and scary shadows, she's only spooked ONCE - and even that was when another horse spooked first, and she didn't take off galloping, only jumped to the side and spun a little.

So I'm really having a blast riding her both out on the trail and in lessons, and we get along much better on the ground - she pays much more attention to me and is a lot less bargey now that she knows that a neck rub, a "good girl" or a carob bean are right around the corner.  And best of all, she seems to actually be enjoying our rides nearly as much as I do.  So if we can get her movement and back issues worked out, we'll be right on track.

We're Baaaack

Me and Starbuck and my Daddy

Well the last month or so has been pretty hectic for me and I haven't posted in a while - this is in part because I haven't been riding much, but also because my parents came to visit! :D :D :D  We had a really good time and I was so happy to be able to share a little part of my life with them, as well as pretty much pretend to be a tourist for two whole weeks.  So I guess it's all for the best that Starbuck wasn't quite up to snuff during their visit - that way she got a nice long rest and I was able to focus on spending time with my folks without worrying about not riding.  Let me rewind a little:

Shortly after my last post a month ago, Starbuck started to do her not-extending-her-right-hind-well thing enough that I could feel it at a trot, so I only rode her at a walk for a couple of days working on lots of stretching and extension (leg yielding, shoulder-in, walking over cavaletti and through tire obstacles and whatnot) hoping she just needed some rest.  But she didn't get better so I called in my vet, who recommended a massage session.  Out came Pascual to give her a massage, who said she definitely had some lower back pain and showed me some massage techniques to use in the future.  The first few days after the massage she was visibly sore and didn't want to trot at all, but the first day my parents got here and came out to see her she was apparently feeling much better since she bucked and farted her way around the roundpen at an all-out gallop when I asked her for canter - the expression "full of beans" comes to mind.

So there I was, all optimistic that I might be able to ride her and show off in front of my parents, when the next day I came out and saw that she hadn't finished her breakfast and seemed kind of down.  So I took out my trusty thermometer and sure enough, she had a light fever.  Panic ensued, since I was going to the other side of the island and knew I wouldn't be back for a few days.  But my vet calmed me down (it's SO nice to have a vet who always answers your calls on Sundays without any complaints) and after giving her some bran mash with EQZone (Spain's answer to bute), clearing the rest of her breakfast and her hay out of her paddock and asking Marina to not give her anything more than a little bran mash for dinner and re-check her temperature in the evening I was able to leave without feeling too bad.

When I finally was able to come back to see her after a few days, she hadn't had any more fever issues (I got a friend to check her temperature every day while I was gone) but she still had some residual leg-extending stuff, which I had hoped would clear up.  She was still a little gimpy a few days later after my parents left, so I asked my vet, who told me to give her another week of longeing with as much extension as possible to see if she improved or not.  The first few days were pretty un-promising but finally on Saturday she really started to move well and by yesterday she was nearly back to normal - she would put in a gimpy stride every now and then but when you asked her to extend she did it well.

To celebrate, since it had been a month since I last rode her and I've been seriously jonesing for some Starbuck, I saddled her up and rode her at a walk to cool her down from her longe session.  Man did that feel good! :D  Marina's suggestion (with vet's blessing) is to intersperse light riding (mostly walk, some trot) with longe work in the deep sand at the end of the arena and over cavalleti and tire obstacles to work on extension and picking her legs up.

In other news I will participate in my first show jumping contest on October 5 - not with Starbuck since I don't want to push her recovery, but with Marina's feisty little pony Vent.  And if all goes well, Starbuck will have her show jumping debut a month later at the beginning of November.  Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Random notes

Today's post is pretty mixed - mostly just stuff I may find useful or fun later on.

Anyhow first is my photographic ode to the shampoo and itch cream I've been using on Starbuck for the past month or so - it works really really well, much better than anything else I've tried so far.

Then some mixed photos and videos of Starbuck and Coco indulging in some mutual grooming, aren't they cute?  This is the only time you can tell that Coco's really the boss since they share food nicely and herd each other around pretty equally.  But Coco is the one who decides where the scratching gets done (back and butt as opposed to Starbuck's preference for neck and chest) and also the one who reminds Starbuck when she's getting lazy with a sharp nip.

Now this is pretty random but as it's horse-related I wanted to share - here's a video some might find interesting of the horsedrawn carriages that ferry tourists around downtown Palma heading into town from Sunday morning.  Some of the horses are a little skinny for my taste and you can see saddle sores on some of them where the harnesses rub them, but for the most part they seem pretty healthy and I'm heartened by the fact that I see the carriage drivers giving them water and spraying them down for flies throughout the day and that some of them wear things like brushing boots.  I know it's highly politically incorrect but I figure there are worse lives for horses than this (like spending 22 hours a day in a stall like some "performance horses" here in Spain).  At any rate I love seeing horses while walking around town as well as the contrast of new-meets-old, and I also love hearing them clip-clop down my street as they leave town in the evening.

Another note - on my vet's recommendation I've changed her feed and instead of mixing straight up crushed oats with alfalfa pellets, crushed corn and fortified sweet feed, I've replaced the crushed oats with a different kind of sweet feed (Pavo Basic Plus, which was supposed to be the same as Pavo Nature's Best but in pellet form, but actually has slightly crappier nutritional statistics so next time I'll get the Nature's Best).  I think she's not crazy about the change, but according to my vet the sweet feed will be easier for her to digest.  It doesn't seem very intuitive to me that sweet feed would be more digestible than plain grains, but hey - humans certainly need to process (grind, soak and cook) grains to be able to use them nutritionally so maybe she's onto something.  I'm interested to see how it goes.

Also, a lameness update - Starbuck was absolutely fabulous in Saturday's lesson, more (but still controlled) energy and better response to the aids than usual which may be the result of 5 days of rest and light work.  I still gave her a nice massage and only did flat work to make sure I didn't overdo it, but then on Sunday I might have screwed up.  My trail ride got cancelled so I joined a jumping lesson some of my stable buddies had scheduled with the resident "barn boy" - you know, the 18 year old kid who works his fingers to the bone in exchange for free lessons and use of the best horses for showing, and maybe something somewhat resembling pay every now and then.  At first all seemed normal - Starbuck was a little lazy at the trot and a little skittish with the kids cannonballing into the pool - pretty classic.  And she threw a few bucks at the canter, but since I was riding her with my crop on the outside to try to activate the outside hind leg, I didn't think much of them.  We started out with a low "laboratory" of three bounces, which she did pretty well and those are the videos I post here.

But then we started working on jumping from up close - there was a trotting pole only about 4 feet away from a low cross-rails jump - and she just went bonkers!  Bolting at the slightest noise, near impossible to steer, bucking on the way out of the jump... At one point I lost my stirrup and was pretty sure I was going down, but was somehow able to stay on and get myself back in position.  We finally did it right once - fairly straight and rhythmic going in, good form over the jump and at the very least no bronc show coming out - and I decided to call it a day.  I figure that she was probably a little sore still from her croup thing and this is her way of complaining.  Although it might be the new feed, and it might just be her being bratty - she's been behaving really well lately so it's about time we went through a rough spot.  Something to keep an eye on at any rate, and I probably shouldn't have asked her for even small jumps so soon after being sore.

Finally had an excellent trail ride yesterday - we walked all the way around a huge almond grove, flushing at least 6 rabbits and as many or more pheasants.  Then we headed back by a way Starbuck and I had never gone on before through a semi-rural neighborhood.  Cars, bikes, motorcycles, vans, barking dogs, sewer lids, plastic bags and empty beer cans underfoot, little old ladies with canes... we survived it all and were on a long rein by the time we got back to the barn.  So very pleased with our progress as far as trail riding goes.

Wild Wild West

After getting shod on Tuesday Starbuck was slightly lame and shortstrided for a couple of days - she had some muscle cramps in her left croup probably from either overcompensating for being tenderfooted from the shoeing or possibly thanks to the "airs above the ground" she likes to practice in her paddock (which always remind me of the time I was "dancing" along to the Savannah St. Patrick's Day parade on TV as a child and threw my neck out so bad it got stuck there and my parents had to take me to the emergency room).  Anyhow she had Tuesday off because of her new shoes and then Wednesday when I realized she was lame I put her away without trotting or cantering and Thursday all I did was longe her for five minutes - yep, still lame - and then give her a long massage.

But by Friday I really was jonesing for some Starbuck, so I decided that if she was at all better, I'd try René's western saddle on her and just ride her at a walk.  On the longe she was really much better - hardly any lameness and tracking up much better than earlier in the week.  And when I mentioned my plan to my friend Toñi (short for Antonia), she said she'd been wanting to do the same thing!  So we hauled out René's big old cowboy saddles - boy are they heavy! - and after much puzzling over how to do things like fasten and tighten cinches, shorten stirrups, remove saddlebags and whatnot we finally felt confident enough in our saddling skills to mount up.

Starbuck was a little worried about it for the first 5 minutes but after me getting on and off about 5 times to adjust the cinch and stirrups and then walking around for a while she figured out that in fact the thing on her back wasn't a ravenous puma but basically just me with about 25 extra pounds.  Toñi's horse Twister also had no issues with the saddle, so instead of joining in the lesson, we just practiced "neck reining" around cones and whatnot in the dressage arena - one-handed riding is something we really need to work on.  But since we were only working at a walk, I had put her hackamore on her, and after a while she started catching on.  This is something I need to work on bit by bit when I'm warming up and cooling down, and on trail rides, being able to steer with a bottle of water (or ice cold beer, or wineskin) in your hand is really useful.

And just because I'm a child of the 90's (well, an adolescent of the '90s) here's some gratuitous Will Smith to go along with this post ;)

Open Season

Sshhhh!

Don't tell my husband because he'll get the wrong idea, but I've formally declared open season on Starbuck.  It's not that I want to wear her out, but if I want to take her on all day trail rides at some point (and hopefully half day trail rides pretty soon), it's not fair to her if the only conditioning she gets beforehand is a pretty light hour-long lesson with me five days a week and a couple of longeing or roundpen sessions.  I've also noticed that Marina's lesson horses are MUCH more robust than the privately owned horses - of course part of that is that private owners tend to notice changes in the status quo quicker and be a lot more paranoid than the folks who take lessons on a different horse each week, and we do freak out and call the vet for things which perhaps don't merit much more than neosporin or at the most stallrest.  But the lesson veterans don't have nearly as many colds, lameness episodes or other issues as the private horses do, even though a lot of them are nearing retirement age.  And I think most of this is simply that they get more exercise and less coddling than the private horses, so I want her to start getting at least two hours of exercise a few days a week.  Finally, if I only ride Starbuck and she's only ridden by me, we'll likely only end up finding "workarounds" to conceal our our bad habits (like using too much leg, slouching to the right and letting my shoulders hunch forward, or like keeping her head in the air, letting her hind legs trail behind her and spooking) instead of actually being motivated to identify and fix them.

So by now, coinciding with the day my CSA veggie basket has to be picked up in town and Saturday afternoon which is my siesta time, Lola's been riding her most Thursdays and Saturdays for months, which in my opinion is really positive - Lola has a much better seat than I do and is pretty much fearless not to mention probably 20 pounds lighter so at least Starbuck's been getting a different experience twice a week from her chubby, unbalanced and neurotic owner who tenses up with every gust of wind.  Here are some recent videos of Lola and Starbuck:

But then my CSA delivery changed from Thursday to Wednesday, so I could go to the stable on Thursday but not on Wednesday, when Lola's not there.  So I asked Alberto, Alex and Marina (not my teacher, just has the same name) three of the more experienced kids whose horses are pretty much on the same crazy level with Starbuck if they wanted to take turns riding her on Wednesdays and they said absolutely.  So on Thursday both Lola and I will ride Starbuck, and Wednesdays are covered too.  And finally, there's a guy named Boris who recently started riding but is a total natural and has been on nearly all the horses at the stable - he just bought two young horses and is trying to get as much riding experience as possible, riding 3 and 4 times on the days he's there (he's a pilot so he has one of those weird work-five-days-get-five-days-off schedules).  Since I like the way he rides as well, the other day I just mentioned to him that if he wanted to ride Starbuck any old morning he was welcome to and he said yes, so I've got him on the roster as well.  Here they are, getting to know each other:

Anyhow I know that there are all kinds of horror stories about people's horses being "ruined" by having them ridden by other people but I honestly think that all of these folks have something to teach Starbuck and I can always turn selfish again and "take her back" if I see it's going badly.  Having seen all of them ride out-of-control horses at one point or another, I'm confident she won't be abused or mistreated by any of them, and I think that her getting a few more hours a week of exercise and experience can only be a good thing.

On a Roll

We have really been making progress the past week or so, and I want to share our successes.  In our lessons, Starbuck is much more responsive and although my leg aids are still not as light as I'd like, I find that after warming up I can use much less leg than I had to a month ago.  She's also starting to give to the bit and round out a little from time to time - for now we just have fleeting moments of her moving correctly but if I can nurture them and not screw things up they'll get longer and longer until she realizes that it's really in her best interest to lower her head, flex her poll, round her back and reach forward with her hind legs rather than to run around with her head in the air, her back hollowed out and her legs all strung out.  She's also been behaving exceptionally, very little spooking and only a few bucks and those mostly only when I use the whip which tells me I need to be softer with the whip anyway.  And what's most rewarding is that she really seems a lot more focused and motivated - I don't know if this is her realizing that I'm trying hard to make her life easier and she's returning the favor, or if it's the transitions or the trail riding or what, but it's noticeable enough for even Marina to comment on it.

One annoying habit of hers which I've been puzzling over is her falling out, especially going to the left.  This, much like the dull on the leg thing, also only started when I began working her on a contact and after several sessions of just being frustrated and trying to pull / push her back into place with legs and reins I finally decided that it was more of a balance / straightness problem than an obedience problem (without being able to throw her head up in the air, she has to figure out new ways to balance herself, and if one foot pushes harder than the other it's normal for her to go sideways).  So I tried a different solution - weighting my inside stirrup when she starts drifting out through her shoulder - and it works wonders!  It's also a good reminder to keep myself centered and pay attention to my center of gravity since I tend to slouch this way and that if I'm not careful.

Here's something fun - I actually recorded an entire lesson on video thanks to my husband's recent acquisition of an open-source "GoPro"-style camera (one of these really light-weight cameras with attachments so you can wear it around) - if you're interested in at least seeing what it's like to ride Starbuck you can check out the videos here.

Her bugbites are also much better than a few months ago - I think a combination of the blanket + mask, thrice-weekly baths with the new shampoo (chlorhexidine and aloe vera instead of just chlorhexidine) my vet recommended and an herbal anti-itch cream which I bought at the tack shop are finally paying off.  She still has some bald spots, but a lot less than before, hardly any of them with the skin broken, and she's not as obsessive about rubbing herself on the tying posts and whatnot.  I also changed her bedding from hay to pressed wood pellets, which expand, turn into powder and clump together like kitty litter as they're exposed to moisture.  This not only makes mucking out her paddock a lot quicker, but it also makes it possible to remove almost all traces of poop and pee from her bed (not to mention semi-decayed hay) which means less flies and hopefully less fly bites.  Here are some pictures, already I'm reaping the benefits of the 10-minute muck-out and with any luck her bites will get even better.

And last but not least, we've been trail riding fools lately!  Last Saturday after our morning lesson there was only one student for the next class so José Luis (the kid who helps out around the stable) took him out for a trail ride, and me and my friend Mar went with.  Sidebar - isn't the name "Mar" (which means "Sea" in Spanish) a wonderful name for a girl, especially one born on an island?  I love it.  Anyhow it went really well on the way out, but on the way back it seems like Starbuck got her second wind and went a little crazy with the passing cars.  No harm done except for some really freaked out drivers, but it definitely made me decide to use the butterfly bit for outings, at least until she's more consistent.  Then I was supposed to go on a trail ride with my German friend René on Sunday but had a hangover, so agreed to go with him on Tuesday after work.  This one was much better - Starbuck's best friend Coco came along for the first 20 minutes or so but then turned around and went home, so we got to work on (and survived!) some separation anxiety there, then I was really proud of her for going over some brightly painted speed bumps that René's horse Rodrigo balked at.  And we even went down a rocky streambed for about 200 feet before deciding it was going to be a pain in the ass and heading back, but just getting up and down the steep bank to the streambed was a challenge to be overcome.  She behaved really well on this one and even though we were on unfamiliar roads with narrow streets with stone walls and barking dogs on either side and cars and bikes passing and she was nervous, was able to overcome her instincts and stay under control.  I need to remember that it's better when I push her just a liiiiitle bit beyond what I know 100% she can do since it builds both our confidence.

But yesterday was the cherry on top of my trail riding sundae - we went on a longer 2 1/2 hour route (the same one we did a few weeks ago) and not only did she hardly spook at all even with cars speeding past us at 55 miles per hour at some points and rabbits and partridges exploding out of the brush at our feet, but we even did a nice controlled canter several times and were nearly as comfortable leaving the way as we were following René and Rodrigo.  We did a little hillwork too - at the far point of the trail ride there are some lovely hills with different inclines from pretty flat to extremely steep which are also handily covered by tall pines and dotted with blackberry patches, so we went up and down a few times just to show ourselves we could.  We're also getting pretty good at moving sideways to get to ripe blackberries and carob beans - which is good practice for the upcoming fig season.

So I'm really enjoying our progress and hoping that the inevitable setback, when it comes, won't be too disastrous.  But mostly I'm just grateful to her for all she's giving me and trying really hard not to screw it all up.

Seeing Double

It's that time of year again... spring blossoms, longer days, warmer weather... but for those of us who have pets with fur it's shedding season!  I honestly think Starbuck must lose about a pound of fur every time I brush her.  Also, her coat yellows in the sun but comes in pretty dark so in spring she always seems to have spots, especially where she rubs herself to scratch those itchy fly bites. Either spots or the mange, I haven't quite decided which. So yesterday I took advantage of an especially warm day to give her a bath and take some photos, then noticed something funny when I looked at the photos later, especially with this one.

To start with, cover just her head and neck. Then cover the rest of her and just look at the head and neck - she looks like a completely different horse! Of course, the "not quite dry yet" streak doesn't help things, but she really is several different colors right now. I'm looking forward to that sleek summer coat and hope that with the flysheet we'll be able to keep her all purty this summer.

In other news, she's been behaving quite well, we've had a couple of really nice classes this week. I think switching between the two bits and the hackamore is having the desired effect and keeping her guessing - she hasn't been pulling as much. I'm also trying to use the reins differently - less steady contact and more leg to get her to lighten up. I don't think she's quite ready to go back to always using the hackamore, but at least I'm no longer worried that we might have to use something even stronger.

I also noticed something kind of strange with her hooves - she was shod last Thursday and in admiring her lovely new shoes I see that she has a kind of crack coming up from her heel and running parallel to the coronet. According to a quick Google search, this type of hoof crack is typically caused by an old abscess growing out, which makes sense for the hind foot (the white one) but is surprising to me for the front foot. Maybe an abscess and not generic "back pain" could be the cause for her intermittent lameness several months ago - at any rate I've asked my farrier to weigh in and give me his opinion to see what the problem is.

Back to Business

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly two months since I last checked in here!  Between my frustration with Starbuck's lameness and injuries (more on that in a minute), my determination to spend every waking moment at the stable once she was better and my husband giving me a Kindle as an anniversary gift, I think I've cracked open my laptop maybe 5 times in all that time.  Anyhow I'm back and though I imagine I'll be a little more sporadic in my updates than before I owe it to myself and to Starbuck to keep up our journal.  So here's a brief re-cap of what we've been up to.

After several weeks of on-again off-again lameness, Starbuck finally seemed to be somewhat recovered so one fine day I tacked her up and took her out to the arena to longe her with her saddle and bridle on in hopes of riding her that day or the next.  After a few minutes of longeing I could see that she was moving really well and I brought her in to the middle of the circle for a rest and a head rub.  So she was standing there resting, then she put her head down to rub her leg with her muzzle, then she stepped in a loop of the longe line and before I could get her foot out of the loop something happened to majorly spook her (who knows what), her head went up and away she ran.  Since her leg was caught in the line I had to let her go and pray for the best, but the arena gate was open and she ended up running all the way to her paddock, where I found her grazing nervously.  But when I checked her out I saw that at some point the bit had gotten pulled against her cheek, giving her a nasty cut about an inch from the bars of her mouth.  And when I opened her mouth to take her bridle off I saw that the bit had also ripped nearly halfway through her tongue.

I can't even begin to tell you how bad I felt.  Here I have this creature who I'm trying to build up a foundation of trust with and the very equipment I'm using not only brings discomfort and pain, but actual injury.  I felt like I wasn't worthy of the responsability of even having a horse, not to mention training one.  I wrapped my arms around her neck and sobbed my apologies into her mane.  I came back to reality when she started nuzzling my pockets looking for cookies and realized that as serious as the problem was, she seemed to be holding it together better than I was.  So I wiped my face and called the vet, who calmed me down by telling me it wasn't an uncommon injury or even a particularly serious one and that the mouth heals much more quickly than other parts of the body, then prescribed a change in diet (no grain or anything with small particles which could get stuck in the wound) and daily rinses with medicated mouthwash until the wound closed.

So Starbuck was on soaked pellet food, straight up straw without any seed heads, alfalfa and bran mashes and had the best-smelling breath at the stable for a month (the vet was right, she healed up way faster than I expected).  She also got a good two weeks more of rest before I even tried to longe her again, so I spent lots of time grooming her and taking lessons on some of Marina's horses.  Finally, I got rid of the bit in lieu of a hackamore and worked her from the ground for about a week before saddling her up and seeing whether she would let me ride her for the first time in two months.  And guess what?  It took a few minutes to review the basic cues and aids and I could definitely tell that she'd lost some conditioning, but she didn't act up at all and even seemed to be happy to have me riding her again.  I honestly think she missed having a routine and being able to work off some steam without having to go into panic mode to do so.

Anyhow about two weeks have gone by since that first ride and I'm starting to think that Starbuck made some kind of seminal change over her "summer vacation".  She's calmer, more focused, more relaxed and overall tends to behave like a total professional both on the ground and under saddle.  Since we've been back on track, we've ridden in the wind and rain, started working trotting poles into almost every class, habitually ride on the scary side of the arena, are starting some lateral work (leg yielding along the arena wall) and have even gotten to canter (on purpose) a couple of times.  We've only had one "electrical" day brought on by some sudden chilly and windy weather, but even then her spooks were highly controllable and I was more worried about her posture (that head kept going up) than me falling off.  I know we'll still have our bad moments, but I think we've scaled another plateau - one where I feel safe riding her no matter what the weather or her mood is like and where we can work on figuring out a training routine which is enjoyable and productive for both of us.

So here's to giving your horse (and yourself) a break every now and then, to bitless bridles and to more conscious groundwork.  And maybe to writing just a little more often.

Photos

Thanks to my fabulous husband who tagged along with me to the stable the other day, I have some photos of the first time longeing Starbuck in a few weeks.  She's definitely almost healed completely from the hind-leg thing and as long as she doesn't injure herself acting like a crazy person as soon as I take her out of her paddock, I think I might even be able to start riding her again in the next couple of weeks.  Seeing her complete lack of control with the rope halter, I've decided that the next time I longe her I'm going to use some side reins just so she won't be tempted to be so wiggly.  Not too tight and not for too long so I don't strain any neck or back muscles, but I figure any adverse effects from a 20 minute longeing session with side reins will be better than her breaking a leg or a tendon out of sheer exuberance - yesterday she slipped and almost fell down during a particularly energetic spook.

She's still doing much better with her bugbites and I've taken advantage of her recovery time to take a few jumping classes on other horses which has been really, really fun!  I'm pretty sure I went over a 60 cm ex the other day which I know is pathetic but for me it was huge and such a thrill.  I've been able to work on my seat too - lots of two point, lots of rising or sitting trot with one or no stirrups, stretching, etc...

So I just threw all the photos in there, flattering or not.  If you want, skip to the end - the last three are the most exciting.  I especially enjoy the ones where I'm looking oh-so-lovingly at her butt while I spread muscle salve on it.  And here's another guessing game for you - one of them is NOT of Starbuck but of one of her lookalikes, can you guess which?