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. Lots and lots and lots of trot poles. And canter poles--although he is quite the klutz over these, and it's rather amusing to watch him flail those big ol legs of his. He'll figure it out soon enough....
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| The trot pole "ditch" of doom |
Assuming he quits throwing shoes!!! Good grief it's getting ridiculous. On the bright side, the horn growth from after adding the hoof supplement is finally hitting the ground and as long as this red monster quits tearing off giant hunks of his feet, we should have some better hoof to work with now. Yet, alas, in the words of my farrier "if we could centrifuge his two feet together we'd have one really nice foot". Thank you thoroughbred feet.
So, in the times when we can't ride because of lost shoes,
Cash has learned how to hobble. When I tried this a year ago he was not keen on the idea. I tried it again on a whim about a month ago and whaddya know, he took it like a champ. It's awesome to just let him chill and graze while I put stuff up and not have to babysit him. Plus, hobble training does WONDERS for their mental thought process.
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| Can't see the hobbles, but they're there |
Trail riding so far has been a bust. Either it's weather or people's schedules... or weather.... we haven't gotten out yet. Though I did ride him out in the back pasture for the first time ever and he was amazing!! Full of energy yes, but OH MY did it ever feel wonderful to be out of the arena riding in grass. That got my cross country bug itching that's for sure.
So, that's that. If we can get him to keep his shoes on so that I'm not losing 2 weeks of work every other month then maybe we'll get somewhere!
Cheers,
Emily
