More energy, less head throwing.

   This new feed combo is awesome. I'm so excited I finally found the right combo that works for Udex! Anyways, today during my lesson he had the most perfect amount of energy.. Which means? No head throwing! The entire time I was riding he didn't throw his head a once. At the very end when I was talking to my friend and had him in a halt, he tossed it about two or three times, but that was it. Yipeee! I'm sooo happy! It was really great to ride toss free! It wasn't an intense or hard work out today. Mainly just circles. The circles were pretty good though, possibly a few of my best circles my entire time riding Udex. The way he was bent around my leg, rounded, and staying perfectly on the circle track pleased me. (and of course, no head throwing which just added to my happiness.)
   So not much to say about today's lesson other then the fact we did lots of circles. Udex is stubborn and is getting a little sour when it comes to cantering. When I bring out my friend; the whip, Udex usually starts to realize I'm serious and not just playing around. He leg yielded nice! Haunches in still needs a bit of work, he knows more then haunches in and wants to complicate things by either half passing, pirouetting, etc. It's difficult to ride such a well trained horse because you have to really ride him right in order for him to work. He knows so much that when you are even the slightest bit of on your aide you won't get anything you want.
   So today was a great day!! We are super close to throwing our head shaking battle away! Almost through this small chunk of his rollkur recovery battle! One more thing... I have changed my out look on insults that come my way. When people rattle of all the things that are wrong with my horse, I now look at it this way. "Thank you for telling me everything that's wrong with my horse. You have made it clear what I will fix, and make better. Everything you named wrong with him is everything that is just giving me more experience and my horse more happiness. So it's good the list goes on and on. It's just more tings to eventually name of on the completed list." So now I truly feel unstoppable with an outlook like that. Of course, things like that do hurt me, but having a more positive perspective on it really does change things and ease the hurt. So go ahead and throw insults at us... It won't hurt us, it will only make me more determined and even stronger to go out and do whats right for both me, and my horse!!!! It's those moments that make me the persona and rider I am today!

Lessons with Udex are always fun.

   Today Udex was, well; Udex. He stayed last night and all day in the stall, since it has been rainy and stormy. He was very calm while I was grooming him! Then it came time to tack up! I put on his saddle and leg wraps on him without a fuss. I did sense a bit of negative energy though. Of course, he proved me right when it came time ti putting on the bridle. I un-clipped the lead rope from his halter, put the reins over his neck, and slid the halter on his neck when he decided that he wanted to try and walk outside with his pony pals. I tried and tried and tried to get him still enough to the point of putting on the bridle. Of course, no luck there. Fortunately for me the arena was free, so I took him there (with a bit of struggle) so I could have more control over him and if he did manage to escape from me he could only run within the arena, and not out to the road.
   He was being a monster. I let him free run after putting on the bridle. After a few minutes of free running he walked up to me -displaying signs of submission- and then I started to ride. We were awfully warm today so we decided to turn on the sprinklers from the ceiling on! Udex has free ran in them before, but never rode with me. It was really fun. He was a bit nervous when the first few went off; darting to the side and passaging around. Eventually he calmed down and we were happily trotting with the mist coming down. It was so refreshing! After the sprinklers went off he went back to thinking and became extremely hot again. Every stride was basically piaffe and passage steps, just waiting to dart into canter. I decided to be nice and canter out the crazies with him. I took him a few rounds and let him run his heart out, while I was in a two point.
   After the cantering sessions were over my trainer arrived and we began the lesson. I feel like today I found a missing piece with Udex. Our canter was really great; something that the missing piece completed. I feel that our canter circles were even better. Udex was very willing and straight-forward today. I am also proud to say that I can sit his extremely bumpy sitting trot without flying all over the place! Of course, it is not perfect yet, but its very close!
   He was a really good boy today, and I have reason to be proud! Never a dull moment with my horsey! <3

Don't we all love a lame horse?

   Lameness. Every owner faces it, just a matter of when. Whether it be a torn tendon, a pulled muscle, a kick from another horse, bad shoes, a fracture, laminitis, a crack in the shoe, a pulled shoe, or as it was in my case this time, an abscess. Abscess do suck, but you can't help but feel relieved when the reason your horse is acting as if his leg is broken is just because of a puss filled blister causing pressure somewhere inside his hoof. Of course, the waiting game really sucks!! A few weeks ago we had a bad farrier who cut away ALL of Udex's already too thin sole, resulting in his mushroom feet being even MORE prone to stone bruises and abscess'. To top it off, Udex was also kicked by a mare in the paddock, making him a little sore. So for about 3 weeks I was taking care of a lame Udex. Taking him on little walks, not riding anymore then walk and a little trot, and getting him corrective shoes (by an amazing farrier!) which are helping his hooves to grow. So almost a month after Udex had gone lame, I was so excited to be back in the saddle! He was feeling well, and I was feeling excited to ride and to take a lesson!! I had a friend out and I rode Udex with her and her horse. He was a joy to ride (as always!) Two days from then was going to be my lesson. The next day I went to go put boots on Udex in the paddock and saw he was walking in the most bizarre way imaginable. His brown leg (front left [FL]) was outstretched and he was refusing to bend it at the knee or to put pressure on it. I palpated his leg (as you should when you see somethings not quite right with your horses limb) and did not feel any heat, any moisture,any lumps, and didn't even see swelling. He was not bothered by my hands squeezing his leg. I picked up the leg and checked out the hoof, just to be sure it wasn't a hot nail! Still he did not seem too bothered by it. He then got uninterested with my squeezing his leg and, being the typical warmblood he is, decided to walk away from me! Now, I know when a horse is lame how they should limp, jump around on their other three legs, throw their heads, or just refuse to move... Usually you can see how the way they are limping, what may be the cause of the underlying lameness. However, I was stumped when I saw how Udex walked away from me. He was walking with his FL leg locked in place, and swinging it outward. I mean, reallllly swinging it too!! He wasn't throwing his head, and besides not putting any weight on that leg, didn't seem to be in any other pain! I had to chuckle a bit because my usually elegant, floaty, energetic horse was now walking like a Spanish horse of some sort! Anyways, after a lot of consideration I decided it would be better to leave him overnight in the paddock with his friends. I know that if he was hurt in some sort, and I did stall him, he would have just paced himself out of fear from being a lone and just made matters worse. It would be far smarter to just let him stay with his friends, doing just a few steps of walk. We would decide whether or not he would have to be stalled in the morning.

  The next morning I came to lunge Udex to try to get a better look at what the problem could be. He was standing off to the corner in the paddock all by himself, FL leg dangling by his side, but his appetite still huge and grazing on the great grass!! I put the lead rope on him, but he refused to walk with me. He stood there with his FL leg dangling. At that point my hopes of the lameness disappearing over night left me. It was still here, and if not, worse. We got a whip out and together, my Mom and I managed to pull him to the stall. It took about an hour to get him to go the short distance. The entire time he was walking on his toe, which convinced me it wasn't a leg, hip, muscle, or joint problem, but rather a problem within the hoof. So Udex went into his stall and happily munched on some hay and nibbled on some straw! He was still the same old Udex though, nervous to leave his friends, but instead of pacing he was hobbling on his three legs!
   For about four days I soaked his hoof in warm epsom salt water several times a day, and hand walking him to a little patch of grass down the street. (He had to walk to keep circulation flowing to the hoof the right way, and of course, he did love his snacks of that great grass!) Finally on the fifth day, at the bulb of his heel puss started to seep out. He was walking normal and had all his go back! He got to be with his paddock palls and eat the fresh grass out there! I was really happy to see him being able to walk normally on over to his friends! -He had missed it so much!-

   So right now the abscess has finished popping! I am at the stage where I'm waiting for it to fully heal up so I can start to ride him again!! His walk is perfect, but he still limps at trot! It has only been about two days since the thing popped, so I'm pretty sure he is going to be ready to ride in no time!!! I'm really excited to have a nice ride with him again! I do have to say, over this entire last month and a half I have really bonded with him a lot more.  It's always fun to get to know your horse a bit more!!! I would have been totally lost if it wasn't for our amazing friends Jacq and Dirk giving us advice the entire way! I don't know what I would have done without them!!!! I can't thank them enough!
   Am I happy that my horse is lame and that I was out of the saddle for a while??- No, Of course not. But I AM happy that I got this great learning experience out of the situation! When you think about it, a month and a half of a lame horse is not that bad! Some people have it a lot worse then me! Although I was offered to ride friends horses for the time Udex was lame, I had to refuse. To me it is just not the same, I don't want it any other way if I can't  have Udex! I really love my horse!! He may be the most energetic boy I know, he may be the hardest horse to sit, and he may be the only horse that can embarrass me senseless...  but you know, that's my horse, and I absolutely love the fact he is all that, and so much more. That's what makes Udex; Udex!!! I am so happy to have such an amazing horsey!! (-: I love you Udex!! (-: