Lyric got his first under saddle lesson this weekend. Tara switched times with me so we could get a lesson in before leaving for the Gamecock football game.
We started out with some quick lunge work. I need to remember to use a steady pull to turn him tighter when he's trying to gawk and invert rather than short tugs. That'll probably help our stopping, as well! Lyric tried to cut in on the circle to avoid the poles and got a swat with the whip to remind him to go out. He's pretty hilarious when he overreacts. He turned the trot poles into a very interesting little jump from the canter. We didn't bother putting the side reins on so that we could get to the riding part!
We worked on not getting him to curl behind the bit. Gayle says his conformation will make it important to keep him from getting deep because he's built to facilitate curling. I felt like cursing my early riding instructors who wanted me to put my hands up forward near the martingale strap. As a result I ride with straight elbows and low hands, neither of which is good for dressage (or riding in general). I've made it my goal to get through an entire lesson without Gayle having to fuss at me for my hands being down or my elbows being forward. Gotta start somewhere! I think we'll make a good team once we get some of these basics fixed. Lyric's game for whatever and catches on to what we want very quickly. And at least for now, he doesn't hold my mistakes against me. :) What a good pony!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Time flies
I just realized Lyric's been here a month! In that month he's gotten his feet trimmed three times, blown an abscess, and decided that I'm a lot less fun as a regular occurrence ;).
While his legs and feet are adjusting to the gradual changes we're making to his "funky foot", we're working on getting him muscled up and introducing some basic dressage concepts on the lunge line. Right now he's getting lunged with just the outside side rein on very loose, with the focus on getting him to stretch down and loosen his neck and withers so his back can come up. We have some trot poles he gets to do as well, which I think he enjoys despite being a doofus and stepping on them once they get raised.
Tonight we took a break from the ring and lunged in the field next to Coach K's driveway. It's a great place to work him because of the nice, slopey hills. Lyric thought it was great because he could trick me. It's just AMAZING that putting his head down to stretch magically brings the grass in reach of his mouth. I'd have found it a lot funnier if I didn't keep having mental images of him putting a foot through/on the side rein or the lunge line and breaking a leg out there. It was a great workout for him, though. It's amazing how much of the soreness in his hocks disappears when there's something interesting going on. And he's got impressive reach with his front end, too!
While his legs and feet are adjusting to the gradual changes we're making to his "funky foot", we're working on getting him muscled up and introducing some basic dressage concepts on the lunge line. Right now he's getting lunged with just the outside side rein on very loose, with the focus on getting him to stretch down and loosen his neck and withers so his back can come up. We have some trot poles he gets to do as well, which I think he enjoys despite being a doofus and stepping on them once they get raised.
Tonight we took a break from the ring and lunged in the field next to Coach K's driveway. It's a great place to work him because of the nice, slopey hills. Lyric thought it was great because he could trick me. It's just AMAZING that putting his head down to stretch magically brings the grass in reach of his mouth. I'd have found it a lot funnier if I didn't keep having mental images of him putting a foot through/on the side rein or the lunge line and breaking a leg out there. It was a great workout for him, though. It's amazing how much of the soreness in his hocks disappears when there's something interesting going on. And he's got impressive reach with his front end, too!
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Fun with abscesses
Well, my equestrian odyssey is taking a slightly different course than I'd planned. Lyric has what we affectionately call a "funky foot". His entire life there's been a flare on his right front foot. He's been sound on it, so we weren't overly concerned about it. Gayle (my trainer/trimmer) saw it for the first time a week ago and explained what was causing it.
It turns out that the flare is a secondary effect from the real problem, a more upright inside wall. Because the inside portion of his foot grows more upright, it pushes his entire hoof structure up on the inside, resulting in a lowered outside edge to the coronet band. Normally, the resulting flare would just sort of self-trim while the horse walks, but since Lyric has nice, strong hoof walls, it just keeps growing out "funky". The problem with this is that it is stretching his outer hoof wall away from the inner hoof, resulting in a stretched/distorted white line. He's getting weekly trims on the front foot to slowly lower that inside hoof wall and take off the outside flare. The hope is that as we do this, the hoof structure will realign itself, resulting in a horizontal foot. What that means for me, for the moment, is soaking his foot twice a week in a solution that requires an airtight seal around his leg.
I'm hoping that all of this will go well, and so far Lyric doesn't seem to mind his new foot. Of course, it's hard to tell because last week just before he got his first trim on Saturday, he started showing all the symptoms of an abscess. Lyric is many things, but "stoic" is not one of them. He's very much one of those horses you'd swear had broken a leg when he gets an abscess. I soaked it and by Monday he was sound enough that I rode him lightly. Well, this morning he came in slightly lame, and by 3 he was dead lame again. So I'm back to soaking his foot in Epsom salts. Tara, the barn manager, is giving him some bute and found an Epsom salt poultice that I'm going to borrow and see if we can get it to drain. If not, I guess Lyric will be getting to meet his new vet sooner than anticipated!
Today wasn't totally depressing, though! I drove out to the "local" tack store. They didn't have what I was looking for (a cheap lunge whip), but I picked up a small bag of horse treats to see if Lyric would eat them. Turns out he loves them (to the extent that he knocked the bag over trying to fit his muzzle in while I wasn't looking). So at least now I know what to bribe him with while we're doing our foot soakings!
It turns out that the flare is a secondary effect from the real problem, a more upright inside wall. Because the inside portion of his foot grows more upright, it pushes his entire hoof structure up on the inside, resulting in a lowered outside edge to the coronet band. Normally, the resulting flare would just sort of self-trim while the horse walks, but since Lyric has nice, strong hoof walls, it just keeps growing out "funky". The problem with this is that it is stretching his outer hoof wall away from the inner hoof, resulting in a stretched/distorted white line. He's getting weekly trims on the front foot to slowly lower that inside hoof wall and take off the outside flare. The hope is that as we do this, the hoof structure will realign itself, resulting in a horizontal foot. What that means for me, for the moment, is soaking his foot twice a week in a solution that requires an airtight seal around his leg.
I'm hoping that all of this will go well, and so far Lyric doesn't seem to mind his new foot. Of course, it's hard to tell because last week just before he got his first trim on Saturday, he started showing all the symptoms of an abscess. Lyric is many things, but "stoic" is not one of them. He's very much one of those horses you'd swear had broken a leg when he gets an abscess. I soaked it and by Monday he was sound enough that I rode him lightly. Well, this morning he came in slightly lame, and by 3 he was dead lame again. So I'm back to soaking his foot in Epsom salts. Tara, the barn manager, is giving him some bute and found an Epsom salt poultice that I'm going to borrow and see if we can get it to drain. If not, I guess Lyric will be getting to meet his new vet sooner than anticipated!
Today wasn't totally depressing, though! I drove out to the "local" tack store. They didn't have what I was looking for (a cheap lunge whip), but I picked up a small bag of horse treats to see if Lyric would eat them. Turns out he loves them (to the extent that he knocked the bag over trying to fit his muzzle in while I wasn't looking). So at least now I know what to bribe him with while we're doing our foot soakings!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
The odyssey begins
The odyssey isn't really beginning in 2011. It began on May 5th, 1995 when a little chestnut colt was born on a small farm in Bishopville, SC. My mom was starting to think about replacing her 16yo grade mare and had been looking at some options. We looked at a half-Arab half-Fresian mare (who strangely enough ended up moving in next door to my parents house about 10 years later) and several other riding-age horses, but she wasn't finding anything she liked. Somehow, she ended up picking this little, 6-month-old Arabian stud colt named Flashs Image. She calls him Lyric, but I tend to just call him Lyr-Brat thanks to his bratty 2yo self.
We took him back to his trainer for I think 60 days of training when he was 4, but that's been the extent of his formal training. My mom's mare is still going fairly strong now, 16 years later at 32, though she's starting to show her age and requires more involved feeding these days. I ended up being Lyric's primary rider during those early years since I "bounced better" (not that there was a lot of bouncing back up needed) and we did everything from fun day shows to pole bending to 2'6" hunter courses. His very first show at 4 was a fun day show where we won 2nd in Simon Says after antics that included sitting on him backwards and any number of very odd things. He never moved a hoof he wasn't asked to. Since I moved to Durham for grad school, he's mostly sat around being a pasture pet and getting ridden once or twice a month when my mom felt like riding twice.
In the next week or two, that's all going to change. He's getting moved up here with me to be my new horse! Rather than sitting on him backwards or jumping, we'll be working on my new passion, dressage. I think he'll do great! I've worked with my trainer, Gayle Dauverd, off and on over the past few years on horses I've leased, and I'm hoping she'll like Lyric as much as I do. I don't have ambitious showing goals, I just want to keep learning. If I can one day do tempi-lead changes (not necessarily one-tempis; any tempis will be fine!) then I'll consider this a successful adventure.
We took him back to his trainer for I think 60 days of training when he was 4, but that's been the extent of his formal training. My mom's mare is still going fairly strong now, 16 years later at 32, though she's starting to show her age and requires more involved feeding these days. I ended up being Lyric's primary rider during those early years since I "bounced better" (not that there was a lot of bouncing back up needed) and we did everything from fun day shows to pole bending to 2'6" hunter courses. His very first show at 4 was a fun day show where we won 2nd in Simon Says after antics that included sitting on him backwards and any number of very odd things. He never moved a hoof he wasn't asked to. Since I moved to Durham for grad school, he's mostly sat around being a pasture pet and getting ridden once or twice a month when my mom felt like riding twice.
In the next week or two, that's all going to change. He's getting moved up here with me to be my new horse! Rather than sitting on him backwards or jumping, we'll be working on my new passion, dressage. I think he'll do great! I've worked with my trainer, Gayle Dauverd, off and on over the past few years on horses I've leased, and I'm hoping she'll like Lyric as much as I do. I don't have ambitious showing goals, I just want to keep learning. If I can one day do tempi-lead changes (not necessarily one-tempis; any tempis will be fine!) then I'll consider this a successful adventure.
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