The Summer of Thrown Shoes

It's been a rather dismal summer for Cash and I in terms of getting to ride.  We hit a few high points when I was able to actually ride him for more than 2 weeks at a time and got a few jumping rides in which were amazing.  However, the majority of the summer went something alone these lines: Farrier comes and shoes horse Horse keeps shoes for a few weeks, a month maybe Horse throws shoe Call Farrier, Farrier comes a week later, by this time Horse is lame New shoe on, wait a week (or more) for Horse to be not-lame Horse is sound, ride horse for a week or two Horse throws shoe Rinse, repeat.... I've honestly lost track of how many...

Continue Reading »

THIS Happened

After literally years of not jumping anything more than wee 18" cross rails... I went for it today with Cash.  I set up a little one stride in and out and after cantering over 2 x-rails I set the back one up to a vertical, and I set it right at 2'7" from the very start.  And, as I expected, Cash still made it feel like nothing.  This is the highest he's ever jumped under saddle and he rocked it.  This horse is going to be a BEAST y'all!! Cheers, Em...

Continue Reading »

Making strides... some big, some little

It's pretty safe to say that Cash's hind end problem is cleared up.  He's no longer pissy under saddle, he's content about getting a saddle put on, and he's moving much much better.  Now it's back to boot camp.  Sorry horse.  Ha! A brief run down of what we've been up to: We've "upgraded" the bitting department.   After getting to chat with a thoroughbred trainer who has retrained many TBs into other careers, I took a hint from her and added some curb leverage.  Cash now rides in a Pelham any time we are outside of the arena or doing poles/mini jumps.  And lemme ya, it's NICE to have brakes!!! Trot poles....

Continue Reading »

5 Minute Catchup: A step in the right direction

Um wow, well over a month since I've last posted to this.  For that matter, I've not been reading any of the blogs I normally follow either.  Hello life!!  I've been INSANELY busy.  But a good kind of busy.  Finals are done and now I'm madly packing for a week and half vacation, so this will be a short n sweet update. That said, I'll just jump to the heart of it:  Cash got his hocks injected yesterday.  After much poking and prodding and two vets looking at him, we narrowed it down to a FOR SURE thing being that we was extremely sore in both hocks, especially his left.  So I told the vet to just go for...

Continue Reading »

Cash does NOT have ulcers... what's next?

Well, certainly not the result I was expecting from the vet check this morning! My vet and I got to the farm bright and early to grab Cash.  He was less than thrilled at getting on the trailer instead of eating breakfast, but we got him on within 10 minutes without a ton of drama.  Once there he was actually pretty chill, he unloaded, looked around and walked right into the building and into the stocks without fuss. THREE shots of sedative later (yeah, I know)... we had a scope down him and the vet, Dr. Jergens, spent several minutes thoroughly looking around.  The result?  NO ulcers.  At all.  Just lots and lots...

Continue Reading »

Cash has an appointment

This past week Cash has been a bit "off". Not in a lameness sense, but in a not-himself-at-all sense. When I rode him a week ago, every time I put my leg on he would slam on the brakes, throw his head up with his ears pinned and give a little kick with his hind leg. Not like him at all. I still managed to get him to trot through use of the seat and voice because I was not about to let him get away with not obeying... You let this horse get away with anything and it's a training nightmare to try and fix. Additionally he's been off his feed a bit lately. He's lost some weight but I think it's just his "beer belly". He's leaner for sure, but he has put on a little muscle which is good. So, he is currently scheduled to have his stomach scoped this coming Thursday to be checked for ulcers. I...

Continue Reading »

A Perfect Evening

Sometimes, the best times at the barn are when you simply walk out into the paddock in the setting sun and do nothing more than stuff cookies in your pony's face and then give each other some love. Cheers, Emi...

Continue Reading »